Consommations énergétiques et cadres de vie:analyses en termes de modes de vie

The detailed analysis of energy consumption requires a global approach to behaviour and individual action registers. This makes it possible to investigate the question between the different spheres of activity of people, from housing to habitat and from habitat to travel. This thesis aims to analyze, through the creation of a lifestyle variable, to what extent these explain the coherence between practices and values of individuals, and whether they allow a better approach to energy consumption between the two sectors of housing and mobility. Our questioning led to the construction of a typology of respondents based on the activities carried out and their values. Our methodology is based on an ad-hoc survey carried out at the end of 2013 among 2191 French households. The questionnaires provide us with information on the activities carried out, mobility behaviour and associated energy consumption. These elements are complemented by a series of more specific questions about the values and aspirations of respondents. First, we have shown that the relevance of using the lifestyle variable for analyzing energy consumption can be observed at a disaggregated level. We found significant differences in consumption between individuals and their lifestyles through mobility patterns and modes of travel, as well as the uses and types of energy used at home. To understand these differences, we analyzed in detail how individualâs energy consumption is spatially distributed according to their lifestyle, showing mechanisms of compensation, cumulation and independence between spaces. Each lifestyle has its own pattern of consumption, influenced by socio-demographic and spatial variables. Our second questioning concerns the relationship between lifestyle and the living environment of individuals and the consequences on energy consumption. First, through residential congruence, we show that lifestyle has a concrete influence on residential choice. Secondly, we demonstrate that residential dissonance, contrary to congruence, is conditioned by the positioning of individuals in the lifecycle as well as the technical offer of the territory. We highlight the fact that these discordances generate effects of over-consumption of energy, either in the home or during mobility, due to frustration with unrealized residential aspirations. In order to go beyond the unique use of density in analyzing the role of lifestyle and living environment on people's energy consumption, we have created territories with functional, structural and sensitive attributes. While individuals show very different consumptions according to the inhabited territory, lifestyles hardly directly related to consumptions. The same is true of housing, since we see the major role played by the type of housing, the surface area and age of buildings on energy consumption in the home rather than that of lifestyles. However, the latter influence the possession of equipment. We thus show that lifestyle, the position in the lifecycle, the technical offer of the territory conditions the choice of a living environment and generally the "consumption space" of individuals. We note that the choice of a specific living environment conditions the practice of certain activities and can influence residential aspirations already anchored in individuals. It is this recursive relationship between lifestyle and living environment that will condition the volumes and forms of energy consumed on a daily basis

Spatial location of activities and energy consumption of households in France

The design of policies and interventions aiming at the reduction of energy consumption requires a good understanding of the underlying social logics. In this perspective, this paper focuses on how the distribution of daily activities at home and away, in various locations, result into different levels of energy consumption in buildings and transportation. This analysis is based on an ad hoc survey of 2000 French households in late 2013. The questionnaire was focused on daily activities, mobility and energy consumption. This core information was complemented with questions about values, residential location and equipment choices. Additional information was collected regarding building types, appliances and socio-demographics. We also did a socio-spatial description of the geographical areas, based on several databases from the French statistical office (INSEE). Our initial analysis consists in clustering respondents based on their stated daily activities and values, in an attempt to qualify distinct lifestyles. Short- and long-term choices at the individual and household level were considered in this task. We then described how these lifestyles and how they deploy in space, imply the use of different types and levels of energy consumption