Welfare, Employment and Energy Demand: Examining Tensions and Opportunities in the Delivery of Demand Reduction

Energy demand reduction is a key issue for the UK as it is necessary to meet several national policy goals, including energy security, carbon emissions targets and wider sustainability aims. The challenges involved in achieving this are significant and in general there is strong recognition that it will not be achieved through technological change alone but will require changes in the way that we use energy as part of daily life. What energy is used for is in part a reflection of how governments shape objectives and investments across many different policy domains. It follows that non-energy policies, for example, relating to economic development, health and safety or consumer choice, can have major implications for energy demand. This proposed project takes on the challenge of identifying the unintended energy demand consequences of policies beyond those focused specifically on energy. The research uses the policy area of welfare and employment as a case because it includes goals that have implications in terms of increasing energy demand (e.g. economic growth), reproducing particular temporal patterns of demand (e.g. through employment policies), and reducing demand (e.g. across welfare policies, such as for housing). The project aims to offer insight into; 1) the role of non-energy policy in the constitution of energy use and needs; and 2) the tensions and opportunities that arise in using non-energy policy to transform energy demand.

The research will address the following key questions:

1) How do welfare and employment policies contribute to the construction of needs, entitlements, and expectations, with regard to energy usage?
2) Which policy goals and associated strategies in this area conflict with aims for reducing energy usage and what opportunities exist for synergy?
3) How can policy-makers reconcile conflicting policy objectives and achieve welfare and employment goals in ways commensurate with reducing energy demand?

These research questions will be addressed through a programme of empirical research split across three interlinked work packages. Work package 1 focuses on reviewing and mapping current welfare and employment policies, along with relevant literature, empirical research and secondary data to facilitate assessment of energy demand impacts. Work package 2 builds on the review work by undertaking in-depth qualitative interviews with policy-makers and other stakeholders in the areas of welfare and employment. Work package 3 involves deliberative forum workshops with people working in both energy and welfare and employment across policy (national and regional), policy delivery, NGO's and other relevant institutions. The project will generate a rich novel data set that will be used to interrogate important questions about the role of non-energy policy in energy demand reduction. The lessons learned from this case study will inform processes of policy-making and innovation for energy demand reduction.

This project will provide findings relating to how non-energy policies impact on, constrain or enable policy goals for energy demand reduction, as well as offering insight into policy-making processes. We envisage conclusions being beneficial to users in two specific ways: 1) through providing understanding of the ways that specific policies, not typically considered as important for energy policy, impact on energy demand; 2) by informing the development of working practices and strategies for realising energy demand reduction goals across policy areas.

Given that reducing energy demand is a policy priority for the UK, we anticipate a large number of economic and societal beneficiaries. These include; government and policy representatives (e.g. Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Welsh Government, Scottish Government), regulators (e.g. OFGEM), third sector organisations (e.g. Energy Saving Trust, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Centre for Sustainable Energy, National Energy Action), and energy industries (e.g. EDF Energy).

Our impact work will be based around partnerships and collaborative working which we have already begun to develop with key beneficiaries. In particular, we have secured the commitment of several stakeholders to actively contribute to the research via the project's advisory panel: Mike Daly (Central Analysis Division, Department for Work and Pensions), Simon Roberts (Director, Centre for Sustainable Energy), Katharine Knox (Research Manager, Community Assets and Climate Change, Joseph Rowntree Foundation), and Helen Stockton (Senior Research and Policy Officer, National Energy Action). We also have strong connections with officials in the Department of Energy and Climate Change that will be utilised in conjunction with the wider DEMAND Centre links to further develop collaborative relationships.

Through engaging with relevant organisations from the outset we have been able to establish the importance and relevance of the proposed research for users outside of academia (see for example, statements of support from National Energy Action and the Centre for Sustainable Energy). We will build on this initial engagement activity to identify and connect with a wider set of users and beneficiaries throughout the project. These processes will culminate in deliberative workshops to be undertaken as part of the research. The workshops will bring together policy makers and stakeholders working in welfare and employment, across policy (national and regional), policy delivery, NGO's and other relevant institutions, with those working on energy policy and demand reduction. They will provide forums for reflection and exchange and, ultimately, offer a pathway to positively impact on organisational culture, practices and policy.

Other activities designed to ensure we reach as diverse and wide a range of potential beneficiaries as possible include: communicating via the mainstream media and social media outlets; presenting outcomes of our work at a range of meetings and conferences, including targeted presentations for key users and beneficiaries at their institutions; disseminating through policy briefings and reports that facilitate early access to research insights for those outside of academia (for details see Pathways to Impact).