Gendered Access to Green Power: Motivations and Barriers for Changing the Energy Provider

Abstract

Sustainable energy supply is a prerequisite for sustainable development. Through their energy consumption customers influence the extent of energy use, and by choosing their energy provider they can additionally influence how electricity is produced. This article summarises the finding of a research project on women and green power funded by the German Ministry for the Environment. A starting point of the project was existing evidence that women reject nuclear energy more strongly than men. The objectives of the project were to analyse the motivation of women to switch to green power and the barriers they experience, to test intervention strategies and to provide recommendations for further action to promote green power among women. The data related to motivations and obstacles to change the energy provider was generated by an online questionnaire with more than 1,000 respondents, and by qualitative interviews reflecting the heterogeneity of female lifestyles. Furthermore, interventions to initiate the shift to renewable, nuclear free energy were developed, tested and evaluated. The interventions were based on the assumption, that women trust more in face to face communication and in experiences communicated by people they know, than in anonymous, seemingly objective information and estimations which are preferred by men.

Partners in the interdisciplinary research project were LIFE e.V. education | environment | equality, Berlin, the Free University Berlin, and Sustainable Energy and Climate Policy, Berlin.