Thermal comfort or money saving? Exploring intentions to conserve energy among low-income households in the United States

Low-income households comprise an important, but often-neglected, target population for energy reduction in the U.S. residential sector. Previous research of this population tends to emphasize demographic and economic factors with little consideration of social-psychological variables. This paper utilized the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate how demographics, climate zones, and a set of social-psychological variables, including energy concern, bill consciousness, frugality attitude, and thermal comfort (needs for coolness and warmness) influenced energy conservation intentions among 248 low-income households across the U.S. Results indicated that the three TPB variables alone (attitudes toward energy- conservation, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) had positive effects on energy conservation intentions. Attitudes toward energy-conservation and perceived behavioral control remained as the strongest predictors after accounting for other variables. Meanwhile, bill consciousness positively predicted energy conservation intentions, whereas needs for warmness and coolness negatively predicted intentions. Gender and climate zones predicted intentions when other variables were not included in the model. This study provides important insights on low-income households' energy-conservation intentions, as well as the antecedents and potential barriers, which provide useful recommendations for future energy policy initiatives.