Category Archives: Consumer Society Research News and Publications

Who are the pioneering users in energy efficiency service markets?

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This article studies the structure of the energy efficiency service markets in Finland. The research focuses on studying who are the most pioneering users of energy efficiency services. In a previous paper, consumer’s interest in different types of innovative energy efficiency services was identified. Psychographic characteristics were found that describe people according to their leaduserness, skepticism and mass market following behavior.
The aim of the present paper is to fill in the gap and deepen the understanding by studying how the most  pioneering users differ from other consumers in the market. We draw on the background of lead user theory by von Hippel (1995) and of diffusion of innovations theory by Rogers (1995) and Moore (1991). The research is based on an empirical survey conducted in Finland in 2013. The results show that the most pioneering users
differ statistically from the mass market consumers.

Full article:

Matschoss and Kahma (2015). Service interest and cluster membership – Who are the pioneering users in energy efficiency service markets?  Nordic Journal of Business 64, 2, 139-159.

Smart grid: Hope of hype?

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Denmark is one of the countries investing the most in developing a “smart grid”. This paper unpacks one influential national vision of the smart grid to identify what kinds of expectations guide the work of smart grid innovators and how the boundaries of the smart grid are defined.  Our findings show that the smart grid hype embodies several implicit expectations that serve to guide research and investment and to attract new players into the field. On the basis of our analysis, European policymakers might consider how their (intentional or unintentional) choices serve to create or maintain certain boundaries in smart grid development: for example, an exclusive focus on electricity within the broader context of a sustainable energy system. As serious investment starts being made in the smart grid, concepts like the supergrid, flexible demand and a broader smart energy system will start competing with each other.

Lunde, M., Røpke, I.  & Heiskanen, E. (in press).Smart grid: hope or hype? Energy Efficiency, August 2015. Online:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12053-015-9385-8

Nudge and experimentation – appreciatively critical analysis of experiences

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Experimentation and nudges are two topical buzzwords in Finland at the moment. Because of this, it seems appropriate to share some recent work that examines these concepts in an appreciatively critical way.

Nudging – a tool for sustainable behaviour? is a report for the Swedish EPA by Oksana Mont and Matthias Lehner from IIIEE Lund and Eva Heiskanen from the Consumer Society Research Centre. It examines the usefulness of nudges in established welfare states like Sweden (and Finland). The report is also available in Swedish. These  slides offer a short synopsis.

On the topic of experimentation, this article examines some recent experiences of experimentation in Finland – again from a appreciatively critical perspective. It shows that experiments are always performative. In order to serve as “proof of principle” and encourage people to persist in climate action, local low-carbon experiments cannot afford to fail.

Heiskanen, E, Jalas, M & Rinkinen J (2015) The local community as a low-carbon lab: Promises and perils. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 14: 149-164.

Kuluttajatutkimuskeskus mukana tutkimassa tekstiilijätteen kierrätyksen tehostamista

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Suomen tekstiilivirtoja, tekstiilijätteen käsittelyn ympäristövaikutuksia sekä keinoja kierrätyksen edistämiseksi selvitettiin Ympäristöministeriön rahoittamassa, Suomen ympäristökeskuksen, Kuluttajatutkimuskeskuksen, Hämeen ammattikorkeakoulun sekä UFF:n yhteistyönä toteutetussa TEXJÄTE-tutkimushankkeessa. Raportin mukaan tarvitaan erilliskeräyksen ulottamista myös tekstiilijätteeseen, lajittelun tehostamista sekä kysyntää kierrätysmateriaalista valmistetulle tekstiilille. Kysynnän kasvua voitaisiin tukea esimerkiksi julkisten hankintojen avulla. Kuluttajille järjestelmän tulisi olla helppo ja selkeä ja kuluttajien on saatava tietää, miten tekstiilit ja tekstiilijätteet hyödynnetään ja miten tulot käytetään.

Julkaisu: Dahlbo, Helena; Aalto, Kristiina; Salmenperä, Hanna; Eskelinen, Hanna; Pennanen, Jaana; Sippola, Kirsi; Huopalainen, Minja (2015) Tekstiilien uudelleenkäytön ja tekstiilijätteen kierrätyksen tehostaminen Suomessa. Suomen ympäristö 4 | 2015. Verkossa: www.syke.fi/hankkeet/texjate.

Crowdfunding in sustainable innovation

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The take up of innovative services and products has contributed to creative thinking also in terms of new sources of financing. Innovation processes are characterised by constant development, and it is beneficial if models of financing can be aligned to that. Crowdfunding, i.e. collecting finance from publics, has emerged as a new alternative also in the field of sustainable innovation.

This CASI project policy brief looks how crowdfunding relates to EU innovation funding activities (Tregner-Mlinaric, Repo & Matschoss 2015). It introduces crowdfunding as an activity, discusses it in sustainable innovation and argues that the European Commission should enhance its approach to consider crowdfunding as an alternative source of finance for innovation.

You may access the policy brief on crowdfunding and sustainable innovation through this link.

The project “Public Participation in Developing a Common Framework for Assessment and Management of Sustainable Innovation” (CASI) is proposed as a response to one of the Grand Challenges set out in the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Union, namely “Climate action, environment resource efficiency and raw materials”.

It represents an EU-wide cross-sectoral partnership on innovation-related challenges and considers not only the impacts of social and technological innovation, but also the types of actors involved and their inherent interests. It thus effectively integrates the perspectives of civil society, SMEs, industry, policy stakeholders, and leading academics.

This collaboration investigates the scope of sustainable innovation as a societal phenomenon and enables the elaboration of an assessment framework of sustainable innovation practices, whose application can be successfully integrated into public policy developments.

Growth and resource efficiency

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The use of natural resources has significant impacts on European economy as well as quality of life of its citizens while also having long-term effects on the global scale. The uptake of innovations and technologies put increasing pressure on the use of resources.

This set of over 20 national level policy briefs addresses the main objectives of the 2020 strategy by putting an emphasis on the Resource-efficient Europe Flagship initiative. Its focus is to help decouple economic growth from the use of resources, support the shift towards a low carbon economy, increase the use of renewable energy sources, modernize our transport sector and promote energy efficiency. Recommendations are drawn for each country.

You may access the set of national level policy briefs through this link.

The project “Public Participation in Developing a Common Framework for Assessment and Management of Sustainable Innovation” (CASI) is proposed as a response to one of the Grand Challenges set out in the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Union, namely “Climate action, environment resource efficiency and raw materials”.

It represents an EU-wide cross-sectoral partnership on innovation-related challenges and considers not only the impacts of social and technological innovation, but also the types of actors involved and their inherent interests. It thus effectively integrates the perspectives of civil society, SMEs, industry, policy stakeholders, and leading academics.

This collaboration investigates the scope of sustainable innovation as a societal phenomenon and enables the elaboration of an assessment framework of sustainable innovation practices, whose application can be successfully integrated into public policy developments.

The food we eat in the Nordic countries: stability and change

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Together with Nordic colleagues, Mari Niva and Nina Kahma from the CSCR contributed to an article called The Food We Eat in the Nordic Countries. The authors show that from 1997 to 2012, Nordic food culture is characterized by stability but also some change. Core elements in traditional Nordic national food cultures persist, such as the existence of two different lunch cultures based on hot and cold meals respectively, the dominant position of meat in dinner dishes, and the rather simple meal formats of both hot lunches and dinners, as ‘platefuls’. But many changes can be identified too, such as the marked tendency that water is becoming the most popular everyday drink for all meal types, the radical decline in cake served as an in-between, the apparent increase in vegetarian hot lunches and dinners, the introduction of fruit and vegetables at breakfast and lunch, and the rise in cereals and yoghurts for breakfast.

Full article:  Holm, L., Skov Lauridsen, D., Gronow, J., Kahma, N., Kjærnes, U.,Bøker Lund, T., Mäkelä, J. & Niva, M. (2015). The food we eat in Nordic countries – some changes between 1997 and 2012. In Bergström, K., Jonsson, I.M., Prell, H., Wernersson, I, Åberg, H. (Eds.)  MAT ÄR MER ÄN MAT. Samhällsvetenskapliga perspektiv på mat och måltider. Vänbok till Marianne Pipping Ekström. Göteborgs Universitet, Institut for Idrotts- och kostvetenskap. Online:https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/39007/2/gupea_2077_39007_2.pdf

Nordic study shows everyday contexts facilitate or hamper healthy eating practices

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Together with Nordic colleagues, Mari Niva analysed the relationship between diet quality and the following practices: social company while eating, the regularity and duration of eating and the activity of watching TV while eating, using a survey addressed to representative samples of the population in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden (N = 7531). The questionnaire elicited detailed accounts of one day of eating focusing on social and practical aspects of eating events. The authors conclude that daily practices related to eating are correlated with diet quality. Practices that are important are in part universal but also country-specific. Efforts to promote healthy eating should address not only cognitive factors but also everyday contexts of eating that facilitate or hamper healthy practices.

Full article: Holm, L., Lund, T. B., & Niva, M. (2015). Eating practices and diet quality: a population study of four Nordic countries. European journal of clinical nutrition. Online: http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ejcn201561a.html