Power2U
Empowerment of households to participate in decarbonisation - Transdisciplinary approach from a psychological, economic and political science perspective
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Project results: Publications
- Schmidt, K., Kastner [sic], I., & Matthies, E. (2024). Who can cope with a carbon tax? The role of financial consequences in policy acceptance among German homeowners. Energy Research & Social Science, 111, 103492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103492
- Haefner, G., Kastner, I., Deuß, A., Meier, J.-N., Beer, K., Matthies, E., Schmidt, K., & Lehmann, P. (2024). How can energy-relevant investment decisions be boosted? The role of events as initiators and drivers of the decision process. Energy Research & Social Science, 117, 103710. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103710
- AEE. (2024). Mit dem Wärmekostenrechner das beste Heizsystem finden. In Agentur für Erneuerbare Energien e. V. (Ed.), KOMM:MAG. Das Magazin zu erneuerbaren Energien in Kommunen 2024. Kommunale Infrastruktur: Energiewende als Daseinsvorsorge (p. 48). https://www.unendlich-viel-energie.de/media/file/6731.KOMM-MAG_2024.pdf
- AEE. (2023). Wie interaktive Informationswerkzeuge Hausbesitzer*innen zu klimaschonenden Investitionen motivieren können. In Agentur für Erneuerbare Energien e. V. (Ed.), KOMM:MAG. Das Magazin zu erneuerbaren Energien in Kommunen 2023. Sektorenkopplung. Klimafreundlicher Strom für Wärme, Verkehr und Industrie (pp. 66–67). https://www.unendlich-viel-energie.de/media/file/5931.KOMM-MAG_2023.pdf
- Beer, K. (2024). Energy justice in the Power2U project – co-creation of recommendations with practice actors for the heat and mobility sector. In Doing Justice Collective, Doing Justice! Doing Just This! Practicing justice in transdisciplinary and transformative research (pp. 37–40). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13766955
Project results: Presentation slides and posters
Beer, K., Brandt, R., Deuß, A., Haefner, G., Matthies, E., Meier, J.-N., & Mottschall, M. Empowerment von Haushalten: Empfehlungen für interaktive Kommunikationsinstrumente und Steuerungsinstrumente. 3. Workshop des Projekts Power2U mit dem Praxisbeirat am 29. November 2024 in Berlin - Präsentationsfolien.
http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.23602.11209
Power2U Presentation Slides WS Practice Advisory Board 2024 – All Slides(German)
Power2U Presentation Slides WS Practice Advisory Board 2024 – Individual Presentations (German)
Beer, K. (2023). Der politische Rahmen für die Dekarbonisierung in Deutschland: Posterpräsentation am 22. September 2023 – Deutscher Kongress für Geographie 2023.
https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.21924.39042
Power2U Poster DKG 2023
About the project
- Power2U Poster 2024 (German)
- Power2U project description 2024 (German)
- Power2U Poster (German)
- Power2U project description (German)
Key data:
| Acronym | Power2U |
| Title | Empowerment of households to participate in decarbonisation |
| Subtitle | Transdisciplinary approach from a psychological, economic and political science perspective |
| Association partners | Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg (OVGU) Universität Leipzig (UL) Technische Universität München (TUM) Agentur für Erneuerbare Energien e.V. (AEE) Öko-Institut e.V. |
| Duration (HfP/TUM) | January 2022 until January 2025 |
| Project funding and project organisers | Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK); Projektträger Jülich (PTJ) |
| Funding line | 7. Energieforschungsprogramm des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK), Förderaufruf Energiewende und Gesellschaft - Menschen und ihr Handeln im Zentrum der Energieforschung |
| Management | Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs Dr. Dörte Ohlhorst |
| Processing | Dr. Katrin Beer |
Brief description
In January 2022, work began on the research project ‘Power2U - Empowerment of households to participate in decarbonisation - transdisciplinary approach from a psychological, economic and political science research perspective’ at the Munich School of Public Policy (HfP/TUM). The project duration is three years.
In the first stage of the project, scientists from Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (OVGU, environmental psychology), Leipzig University (UL, economics) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM, political science) are researching opportunities and barriers for empowering households to participate in decarbonisation in the context of the heating and mobility transition in rural areas. The focus is on the influence of the CO2 pricing introduced in Germany, the question of cognitive and psycho-social, market and technological as well as institutional and regulatory barriers to decarbonisation and the issue of scope for action and acceptance. The focus here is on vulnerable groups, particularly with regard to rising energy prices.
In a second step, the development and testing phase, the university partners, together with the Agency for Renewable Energies (AEE) and the Öko-Institut e.V., develop interactive communication tools (online cost calculator), which are trialled and evaluated as part of the project. In addition, recommendations for communication tools and control instruments (empowerment recommendations) are derived from the project results and published.
Project description
The energy transition is a comprehensive social transformation process. To accelerate this process, the pricing of CO2 emissions as an overarching instrument has been adopted in September 2019, to achieve Germany's decarbonisation targets (-65%CO2 by 2030; climate neutrality by 2045).
Against this background, the aim of the Power2U research project is to develop instruments to empower households in rural areas to invest in energy-efficient and greenhouse gas-neutral technologies.
At the centre of this project is the analysis of existing barriers, but also of opportunities for an inclusive energy transition, which are being investigated from a transdisciplinary psychological, economic and political science research perspective. The focus is on the particularly impact-relevant areas of the private building sector and household mobility as well as on potentially vulnerable groups such as low-income households in rural areas.
Initially, disciplinary findings on psycho-social, economic and institutional barriers, such as questions of subjective shaping of the investment decision, are embedded in the analysis in the current and future regulatory context. CO2 pricing and accompanying measures, actor constellations, institutions and policy mixes at various political and administrative levels are taken into account. The disciplinary results are then integrated into an integrative phase model of sustainable investment decisions by households.
On this basis, perspectives for future policy instruments and interactive communication tools are developed in a development and testing phase in cooperation with practice partners. The interactive communication tools are tested experimentally and evaluated in cooperation with the practice partners.
In accompanying studies, the question of the acceptance of increasing CO2 pricing is analysed, especially if it is supplemented by complementary instruments that expand the individual scope for action. Furthermore, changes over time and interactions between acceptability and perceived CO2 reduction options are analysed.
The aim of the Power2U project is to support private households in making high-impact investments with high savings potential for specific target groups. The focus is on private households in rural areas, as they are often particularly affected by energy price increases due to their living and income conditions.
