The literature on the energy-efficiency gap discusses the status-quo bias as a behavioral anomaly that potentially increases the energy consumption of a household through at least three channels: (1) by making consumers keep their energy-using durables as long as possible, until wearout forces them to replace their equipment (2) by making consumers choose new energy-using durables that resemble the existent ones that need replacement, and (3) by making consumers overuse appliances in an attempt to mentally amortize the initial investment cost. The results presented in this study are an attempt to empirically investigate the extent to which the presence of a bias towards the status quo is linked to residential electricity consumption through two out of the above mentioned three channels: non-replacement of old appliances and overuse of appliances. Using data from a large household survey conducted in three European countries, we find that our measure of status-quo bias is a significant predictor of both the age of home appliances as well as the level of consumption of energy services of a household. The tendency of status-quo biased individuals to keep their appliances longer and to use them more intensely is also reflected in the total electricity consumption of their households, which is found to be around 5.7% higher than for households of non-biased individuals. This research thus provides some first empirical evidence that the status-quo bias has the potential to create a substantial barrier to increasing residential energy efficiency. Our findings prompt policy makers to design instruments that take this barrier into account.

中文翻译：

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行为异常和与能量相关的个人选择：现状偏见的作用

关于能效差距的文献将现状偏差作为一种行为异常进行了讨论，它可能通过至少三个渠道增加家庭的能源消耗：(1) 通过让消费者尽可能长时间地保留使用能源的耐用品，直到磨损迫使他们更换设备 (2) 通过让消费者选择与现有需要更换的耐用品类似的新耗能耐用品，以及 (3) 通过让消费者过度使用电器以试图在心理上摊销初始投资成本。本研究中提出的结果试图通过上述三个渠道中的两个渠道来实证研究对现状的偏见与住宅用电量的关联程度：不更换旧电器和过度使用电器。使用在三个欧洲国家进行的大型家庭调查的数据，我们发现我们对现状偏差的衡量是家用电器年龄以及家庭能源服务消费水平的重要预测指标。有现状偏见的个人倾向于将电器保持更长时间并更频繁地使用它们，这也反映在其家庭的总用电量上，发现其比无偏见个人的家庭高约 5.7%。因此，这项研究提供了一些初步的经验证据，表明现状偏见有可能对提高住宅能源效率造成实质性障碍。我们的发现促使政策制定者设计考虑到这一障碍的工具。