Energy Culture: Implications for Energy Retrofit Programmes in Coyhaique, Chile
Creators: name: Cortes Fuentes, Alejandra
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 441004
subject: Social change

description: The study of energy culture is gaining interest among scholars. Culture can complicate or catalyse efforts to promote more efficient and affordable forms of energy use in homes. Energy culture can operate as both a barrier to and an enabler of particular energy practices, which is often unacknowledged in policymaking. While numerous studies on residential energy retrofits seek to address occupants’ behaviours and energy consumption, domestic energy culture remains relatively under-researched and therefore poorly understood. This research explores the energy culture in Coyhaique city, Chile. In 2018, the city was reported as the most polluted city in Latin America in terms of levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5 µg/m3). A key source of this pollution is firewood combustion used in domestic cooking and heating. In Coyhaique, the main factors driving excessive residential firewood use are its affordability, the comparatively high prices of other energy sources, its availability in formal and informal markets, the lack of housing energy efficiency, a cold climate that increases heating demand, and cultural factors such as preference and routine. 

Chile has made significant public investments to reduce heating demand and fine particulate matter emissions by allocating energy retrofit subsidies to improve homes’ thermal insulation and replace firewood heating appliances. Households living in social housing experience energy vulnerability since they risk falling into energy poverty, and the subsidies can potentially alleviate this condition. However, there are no studies exploring households’ experiences of such programmes and associated relations with energy culture. This research adopted a qualitative approach, using interviews to explore energy culture from the perspective of householders and focus groups with policymakers to understand the sociopolitical and institutional contexts within which energy retrofit programmes are developed and implemented. By this means, a rich and deep understanding was generated, allowing the research to contribute to knowledge on the relationship between social housing energy retrofits and changes in domestic energy culture, and how these changes may alleviate or exacerbate energy vulnerability.

The research findings suggest that local energy culture in Coyhaique’s households is configured by a persistent attachment to firewood, sustained over time, even after participating in two energy retrofit programmes. Additionally, the underlying structural dynamics of the programmes, such as institutional organisations, programme objectives, and management, have caused different outcomes, in terms of how households have perceived and experienced the programme benefits. In different ways, both programmes are shaping households’ energy culture. The findings also suggest that some engrained energy cultural patterns may influence energy vulnerability. The implications of the findings with regard to policies and programmes were identified as risks: 1) the risk of a fragile energy transition process, and 2) the risk of hindering programme uptake. Finally, in light of the research findings, a set of three recommendations for residential energy retrofit policies are proposed: 1) develop a comprehensive approach, both socially and technically, 2) formally recognise energy poverty in policymaking, and 3) tackle the structural problems of residential energy retrofit programmes. The research implications and recommendations can assist policies and programmes to be more responsive to local energy culture and more effective in reducing energy poverty risk.