Identifying Socioeconomic and Cultural Patterns in the Heat Consumption of Copenhagen Households

Abstract

This paper explores spatial correlations between the heat consumption and the socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of households in the City of Copenhagen. The purpose is to analyse how the social, cultural, and economic structures affect heat consumption differences in the city and to find out which household types need political targeting in order to reach the goal of a 20% decrease in the Copenhagen heat consumption in 2025 compared to 2010. Using a combination of choropleth maps, Pearson’s R, and regression analyses, the total effects as well as direct effects of socioeconomic and cultural variables on heat consumption per capita are analysed. A life-cycle pattern is found to describe heat consumption per capita, but it is challenged by the existence of an income divide between a new generation of wealthy families with small children living in newer, semi-detached houses with better energy labels and non-western ethnic people tending to have low income. The income divide affects the economic motivations and options for decreasing heat consumption per capita.