University of Graz, Austria
Institute of Psychology


Invited Talk

Acceptance of new technologies: Examples from the energy sector

To prevent catastrophic consequences of climate change, we need to massively reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the next decade. To achieve this, transformation in many different sectors is necessary and the energy sectors is one of them. Transforming the energy sector includes technological and societal changes. Technology will provide alternatives to old technologies depending on fossil fuels (e.g., energy production and mobility) and also support optimizing energy usage and the energy market. However, often technological change also needs societal change. Only if people accept and adopt new technologies and are willing to change behavior and habits, transformation occur. In this talk, I will present empirical studies investigating psychological variables predicting the adoption of two technologies that are part of the transformation of the energy sector: smart meters and electric vehicles. Even though some psychological variables like risk-perception, technological affinity and environmental attitude are indeed related to acceptance of these technologies, it is important to acknowledge barriers in society for their uptake. I will discuss these barriers in connection of the concept “energy citizenship”.