Informational failures frequently lead consumers to make non-optimal energy-efficient purchasing decisions. Energy efficiency labels seek to influence consumer behaviour at the point of sale by reducing informational failures regarding energy efficiency. However, several informational and behavioural factors contribute to the energy efficiency gap and could render label-oriented policies useless. The purchasing decision model of Allcott and Greenstone (The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26, 3–28, 2012) is used here to explore the different factors that influence purchasing decisions and understand (i) the importance of energy consumption compared to other attributes; (ii) how consumers weight energy savings and (iii) what other benefits and costs influence the purchase of energy-efficient goods. The analysis reported here is based on qualitative research methods and is conducted in the household and service sectors (the accommodation sector and private service companies), for appliances, heating and cooling systems and cars in Spain. Results show that (i) there is still an informational gap regarding energy labels and (ii) bounded rationality and end-user behaviour are important limiting factors for the purchase of energy-efficient goods in Spain.

信息故障经常导致消费者做出非最佳的节能购买决策。能源效率标签试图通过减少有关能源效率的信息故障来影响销售点的消费者行为。但是，一些信息和行为因素导致了能效差距，并可能使面向标签的政策变得无用。奥尔科特和格林斯通的购买决策模型（《经济观点杂志》第26期，2012年3月28日）用于探索影响购买决策的不同因素并了解（i）与其他属性相比，能源消耗的重要性；（ii）消费者如何权衡节能量；以及（iii）还有哪些其他好处和成本会影响节能产品的购买。此处报告的分析基于定性研究方法，并且在西班牙的家用电器和供暖和制冷系统以及汽车的家庭和服务部门（住宿部门和私人服务公司）中进行。结果表明：（i）关于能源标签的信息缺口，（ii）有限的理性和最终用户的行为是在西班牙购买节能产品的重要限制因素。