Research undertaken by the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL) has shown that current ‘top down’ education approaches aimed at changing consumer behaviours to adopt sustainable housing options (including concepts like net zero energy homes) have been largely ineffective.
This project builds on key findings of research conducted within the CRCLCL that communicating sustainability in a more mainstream way could significantly improve uptake of sustainable and energy efficient homes.

This literature review and discussion paper draws primarily on behavioural science to explore why consumer engagement in the Victorian retail energy market is not higher, and to suggest potential interventions to improve the level of engagement. The energy market we refer to covers both residential and small business use of gas and electricity. We...