Energy Consumption in Public Buildings: The Determinants of Occupants’ Behavior

Abstract

Considering the critical amount of power consumption in public buildings, sustainable energy use in the workplace can present an opportunity to tackle the worldwide problem of climate change. A systematic literature review revealed that, though the majority of scientific papers emphasize the importance of appliances and new technologies, human behavior in this area is not less significant. It can contribute to the reduction of energy use and CO2 emissions and address a number of environmental issues. The main purpose of this work is to analyze and compare the research performed on the topic of the determinants of sustainable energy consumption and investigate their impacts on the behavior of employees in three public buildings in Greece. The questionnaire survey discloses that, despite the organizations paying the bill, the employees believe that saving energy at work is important. The results also show that female employees feel more responsible for energy problems, such as the exhaustion of energy sources or global warming. Finally, a regression analysis affirms that the willingness to save a substantial amount of energy at the workplace is greater when employees have higher personal norms, that is, they feel morally obliged to consider the environment and nature in their daily behavior.