Sur­vey: Oulu inha­bi­tants inte­res­ted in low-ener­gy and cli­ma­te-friend­ly solu­tions

One of the aims of the Making City pro­ject is to inc­rea­se deba­te on ener­gy efficiency and encou­ra­ge resi­dents for ener­gy saving.

Last spring, a sur­vey of Oulu inha­bi­tants was con­duc­ted to gau­ge their views on issues such as ener­gy con­sump­tion habits as well as envi­ron­men­tal impacts and how to miti­ga­te them. The sur­vey results sug­gest the most impor­tant way to affect the cli­ma­te impact of elect­rici­ty and ener­gy con­sump­tion are industry, busi­ness, and sta­te and local govern­ment deci­sion-making, but action byin­di­vi­dual inha­bi­tants may also mat­ter.

The vast majo­ri­ty of res­pon­dents try to make ener­gy con­sump­tion choices to affect the envi­ron­ment. 95% of the res­pon­dents con­si­der some degree of envi­ron­men­tal friend­li­ness as a selec­tion cri­te­rion in their per­so­nal choices. The res­pon­dents also repor­ted paying atten­tion to saving ener­gy in their eve­ry­day lives. Near­ly eve­ry res­pon­dent said they tur­ned off the lights as they left home, two thirds of the res­pon­dents made low ener­gy purc­ha­se, and more than half had cut down on the use of warm water or lowe­red indoor tem­pe­ra­tu­res.

The res­pon­dents said their homes had some smart func­tions to moni­tor or opti­mize elect­rici­ty con­sump­tion. The­se smart fea­tu­res affec­ted hea­ting, ligh­ting, air con­di­tio­ning or vehicle hea­ting. One of the aims of the Making City pro­ject is to arouse con­ver­sa­tion on ener­gy efficiency and encou­ra­ge the resi­dents to moni­tor and opti­mize their con­sump­tion habits.

In order to pro­mo­te awa­re­ness of ener­gy issues and chan­ge con­sump­tion habits, the res­pon­dents would like to have com­pa­ra­ti­ve data with other house­holds and more detai­led break­downs of the com­po­si­tion of their own ener­gy con­sump­tion. To pro­mo­te ener­gy efficiency, inha­bi­tants expect advice and recom­men­da­tions for ener­gy-saving habits and actions as well as for reducing mate­rial con­sump­tion.

The sur­vey was car­ried out by VTT Tech­nical Research Cent­re of Fin­land as part of the Making City pro­ject that is based on the Oulu City Stra­te­gy 2026 and its envi­ron­men­tal pro­gram­me, sup­ports their ener­gy and mate­rials efficiency goals, and pro­mo­tes the city’s car­bon neut­ra­li­ty objec­ti­ve.

More infor­ma­tion about the Making City pro­ject avai­lable onli­ne (in Fin­nish): www.ouka.fi/kaukovainio.