Beyond Energy Efficiency: Durability, Consumer Segmentation, and the Rebound Effect in Household Appliance Choices

The seminar presents preliminary findings from a 40 direct interviews and survey of 400 Polish consumers, exploring how preferences for household appliances relate to intended use and the rebound effect. Combining a discrete choice experiment with AHP comparisons, the study examines trade-offs between purchase price, energy efficiency, and durability. Initial results show that durability is more strongly preferred than energy efficiency in equal-price comparisons, while declared priorities only partly align with choices. Particular attention is given to the potential for clustering consumers according to their preference profiles and examining whether these segments differ in their intended allocation of energy-cost savings to additional use. The seminar discusses preliminary evidence on declared
rebound, the planned validation of consumer segments, and the distinction between hypothetical intentions and observed behaviour