Pro-Ecological Energy Attitudes towards Renewable Energy Investments before the Pandemic and European Energy Crisis: A Segmentation-Based Approach

Abstract

The household as the primary decision-making unit is founded on classical and neoclassical economics. However, household behaviour changes have been noticeable in the last decade, moving towards more green and sustainable patterns, which have been pronounced in EU countries striving for a more significant share of renewable energy sources (RES) in energy consumption. These behaviours can be attributed to sustainable economics and are an essential part of energy transformation, as they are focused on pro-ecological attitudes, considering both financial activities and those related to caring for the environment and future generations. This article aims to segment energy consumers and to determine what attitudes prevailed in the selected segments and to what extent consumers were pro-ecologically oriented when making decisions regarding RES management before the pandemic and the energy crisis outbreak in Europe. We propose a three-segment model for archetyping household energy consumers in Poland by considering the following groups of factors: environmental and energy goods protection (F1), the mirror effect (F2), and energy and devices profitability (F3). The segments are distinguished based on factor analysis and the fuzzy c-means method. The number of segments is determined based on the cluster validity measure. The presented results prove that the F1 factor plays the leading role in each segment. The percentage of positive responses for each segment, including a migrating group of households, oscillates over 80%. It gives strong hope for retaining sustainable attitudes regardless of the pandemic and energy crisis that occurred in 2022 in the EU.