This planning grant will enable the investigator to develop further the concepts and methods to guide an evaluation of energy conservation as a form of technological citizenship, and support conclusions about the roles lay citizens could perform in shaping the energy future. The long term research goal is to formulate strategies for energy citizenship based on environmental, political and social values consistent with a sustainable energy future and democratic participation in the governance of the energy system. In this planning period, the following conceptual areas will be further developed: characterization of the energy system as a political system or system of governance; consideration of how the technological citizenship framework could be adapted to studying the beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviors of energy users; compilation of the range of meanings which are given to the practice of energy conservation; incorporation of sociopsychological knowledge about the relationship between attitudes and behavior into the technological citizenship model; and an elaboration of what is known about processes of energy choice and energy transitions. The methodological tasks to be undertaken involve development of survey instruments and implementation plans for two surveys: a survey of key informants; and a national survey of energy users. The first survey would be relatively unstructured and assist in identifying areas of knowledge, attitudes and behavior most directly associated with the notion of energy citizenship. Planning would identify the appropriate sample, important questions, and weight to be given to this input versus other input. The second survey would be more structured; the planning phase of its design involves answering questions such as how to operationalize indexes of `energy citizenship;` what sample is appropriate; what socioeconomic variables to include for individual and institutional respondents; and how to undertake the analysis. Results of the planning grant should include several presentations and publications.
