Bereichsbild Alltagsökologie, Energie, Konsum: Bildausschnitt Mohn-Käse-Brötchen

Everyday Ecology, Energy, Consumption

 

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Research focus  Everyday Ecology, Energy, Consumption

Consumption by private households accounts for a substantial amount of environmental pollution and greenhouse gases harmful to the climate; in fact it is directly or indirectly responsible for more than half the entire CO2 emissions in Germany. The transition to environment and climate-friendly product and consumption patterns that are sustainable in the long term can thus only be achieved through rigorous changes to people's way of life, consumer habits and forms of urbanisation.

As a focus of research, 'Everyday Ecology, Energy, Consumption' is concerned with devising methods, concepts, strategies and instruments to render consumer patterns more environmentally and climate friendly. The perspective adopted here places everyday actions at the centre of the research. People's use of energy and their decisions as consumers are examined in the context of how they meet their everyday needs, something they generally do via established routines, implicit knowledge, gender-specific arrangements for organising daily life, social networking, and the structure of supply systems. The objective is to develop action approaches which bring about feasible changes to everyday routine actions and decisions and thus support consumer patterns that protect the environment and climate whilst considering the different capacity for action on the part of different social groups.  Attention is also given here to demands for a long-term transformation of supply systems and production patterns.

The main spheres of action are:

A special aspect of this research is the science-based consulting and drawing up of methods, concepts and instruments, particularly on the following topics:

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Contact Person: Dr. Irmgard Schultz, schultz@isoe.de