NUANCE

Globally, countries have developed their own sustainability goals to achieve a carbon-neutral society. Sustainable energy consumption is one of the United Nations SDGs). A number of policy measures and incentive mechanisms have been developed to promote energy-efficient consumption worldwide. Consumer evolution has made passive consumers active in the consumer network. Increased intervention is therefore needed to manoeuvre sustainable energy consumption. However, even if measures and schemes are in place, it is important to examine how consumers adopt these measures. Social energy research takes into account the integration of behaviour and perception, as well as the peculiarities of the consumer while adopting effective energy measures. A comprehensive study of the differences in consumer behaviour is needed while considering their methods of using energy. One such class includes “hard-to-reach (HTR) consumers”, who are difficult to influence to encourage them to change their energy consumption. It is important to consider the following types of consumers in order to achieve climate objectives. These consumers may find it difficult to physically reach or be motivated to participate in energy efficiency programmes. In this study, our goal is to determine the characteristics of such consumers. Mental models will be used to study cognitive thinking about energy for different users to evaluate the critical thinking approach. The results of this model will be further used in the system dynamics model to simulate the effects of various interventions, affecting hard-to-reach energy consumers to become energy savers. The results will also be used to characterize HTR consumers to be taken into account in the long-term energy system model. The energy systems model aims to investigate the impact of such HTR consumers on strategic plans to achieve carbon neutrality in the Nordic and Baltic countries.