Demande en énergie et dynamiques de consommation
Vers une socio-économie de la demande en énergie
Energy Demand and Dynamics of Consumption
Towards a socio-economic understanding of Energy Demand-side

Scientific challenges echoing major Society issues

Managing energy production, supply and consumption modes is – as of today – a main challenge for Society at large. The transition towards a lower-carbon society using better energy is inescapable. Testimony of this is the array of international, European and domestic actions aimed at fighting climate change, reducing CO2 emissions, as well as ensuring security of energy supply. Energy producers and suppliers contribute to these efforts.

Without leveraging on the energy demand-side, we will not be able to achieve it.

Demand’s drivers remain insufficiently understood, measured and anticipated, in particular for households at times viewed as a kind of "black box". These drivers are closely tied to complex researches (such as those covering lifestyle, consumption
patterns - as well as the evolution of both -, roles of stakeholders from politics and
business arenas, renewable or smart technology’s diffusion, buying and uses people’s behaviours, as an example). The understanding and potential energy savings quantification deriving from industrial and tertiary sectors also requires further research.

An interdisciplinary and multi-players European research programme

The research programme Energy Demand and Dynamics of Consumption specifically targets such scientific issues. Its ambition is to speed-up upstream research and related dynamics of innovation on these topics. To this effect:

• It federates and gathers various & complementary disciplines, skills, and know-how deriving from social sciences, economics, as well as engineering sciences,
• It is implemented in association with top academic centres in Europe in the field of energy research, prioritizing exchange, decompartmentalized approaches and cooperation between the teams.

Three highly linked research areas

EDDC 2009 Research Programme, dynamics in action

• Beginning 2009, nine on going PhDs projects in the fields of households (residential and transports) and industry, in collaboration with academic research Institutions (Ecole des Mines, CIRED/CNRS, University of Stuttgart, University of Bath, Sorbonne- Paris V, Wüppertal Institute).

• Three co-founded cooperative projects running: BARNERGY: Barriers for energy changes among end-consumers and households (European project, Project Leader: SIFO, Norway) – RENERGI: Do customers information programs influence energy consumption? (Research Council of Norway, Project Leader: University of Oslo, Norway) – ENERGIHAB. Energy consumption: From home to city - Social, technical and economic aspects (ANR, Project leaders: LOUEST-CRH & CSTB, France).

• Three Post-doctoral projects starting: Sustainable behaviour and technology, in partnership with the Environmental Change Institute (Oxford University, UK) – Energy consumption in the fields of housing and mobility. Lifestyles Analysis with the Laboratory of Urban Sociology (EPFL, Switzerland)
– Peak Demand reduction & energy saving behaviours with the Grenoble Applied Economic Lab (UMR INPC/INRA/’Université Pierre-Mendes, France).

• A four years co-funding agreement signed by EDF and EPSRC
– the leading British Research Council on the field of Energy –, focusing on the topic of “People, Energy and Buildings”.