Executive Summary
The Warm Homes project has been set up by the Ministry for the Environment to examine ways to encourage New Zealand households to move to cleaner heating sources and increase household energy efficiency, and overall to encourage warmer and healthier homes.
An important step towards designing an appropriate Warm Homes programme is to understand the drivers behind New Zealanders' uptake of home heating and energy efficiency improvements – or their reluctance to do so. Social drivers are the mix of influences and factors that result in people behaving the way they do. Understanding social drivers is a vital part of designing effective policies and intervention programmes
Many New Zealand homes are not 'warm homes'. Despite advances in technology, housing improvements, etc., indoor temperatures in houses today on average do not appear to be noticeably warmer than 30 years ago. Insulation has been shown to provide measurable benefits, but on its own does not provide sufficient temperature rise to guarantee a 'warm home'. A very strong tradition of individual room heating continues to this day, although expectations are developing for a greater level of home heating based on people's exposure to warmer conditions experienced elsewhere.
There is a strong retention of solid-fuel burning among New Zealanders, driven by a variety of reasons, including retaining access to local fuel sources, concerns about the cost and reliability of electricity and gas, and the attraction of the flame effect. Also, houses with wood burners are warmer overall.
Lifestyle and convenience factors have seen a steady movement towards heating systems that provide instant heat, flick-of-the-switch, availability, etc. There is still a strong retention of electrical heating in certain market segments, and strong growth in the use of heat pumps. The very large increase in portable gas heater availability reflects home heating behaviours by large groups of New Zealanders: avoiding the risk of relying on a single heating source, and preferring heating that is cheap to purchase, has single room capability, is capable of quick heating, is easy to control, and has low running costs.
Proximity to energy sources is a major driver for many households, including access to gas from the North Island piped network, access to 'free' or self-collected wood (more available in rural centres and rural areas), and access to local coal supplies (West Coast and Southland). Proximity is often an attractive driver because of cost considerations (eg, perception of low cost if the wood is self-collected).
Many of the drivers of energy efficiency are the same as those for home heating choices. Some drivers can be both positive and negative because they affect different segments of the market in different ways. For example, electricity prices can be an incentive for energy efficiency for those with the capital to invest, but electricity prices may also be perceived as relatively cheap and cost-effective in some market segments and therefore do not encourage change. Occasionally a driver encourages clean heat but discourages investment in insulation (eg, low electricity prices), which means there can be confusion in promoting both at the same time.
Overseas experience in incentivising change offers invaluable guidance for the development of ways to encourage change in home heating and energy efficiency in New Zealand. Key observations that can be made from overseas experience include the need for:
- a clear direction and strong commitment from central government
- a long term commitment – change will not happen overnight
- adequate funding
- involvement from all sectors - including central, regional and local government, the private energy sector, non-profit organisations, and the community
- a variety of complementary measures and initiatives - including financial grants and incentives, awareness raising and education, regulation and market transformation.
In addition:
- although all households need to be targeted, some households will need additional targeted assistance (often financial) to make changes - including low-income households, householders in private rental accommodation, and the elderly
- monitoring and evaluation of programmes are essential to ensure objectives are being met.
These all affect programme participation, and should therefore be carefully considered during programme design and implementation.
