According to a recent study carried out by the Department for Energy and Climate Change, people who claim that they are concerned about climate change tend to use more electricity compared to those who say that the issue is not a big deal.

The government-commissioned study has found that residents who say they worry about the prospect of climate change consume higher levels of energy.

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This finding has been linked to age; residents who are over 65 years old are more careful with electricity but are less worried about global warming.

Moreover, according to the Household Electricity Survey, there has been a weak association showing that individuals who say that they are concerned with climate are cutting back on their energy use.

This study is conducted annually by professionals from Loughborough University and Cambridge Architectural Research among 250 families, monitoring their electricity usage.

Residents had been surveyed whether they were in agreement or disagreement with the statement: "The effects of climate change are too far in the future to really worry me."

The researchers wrote in their concluding remarks that household residents who claimed that they were not worried about climate change were the ones who used less electricity.

This contradicted their hypotheses that households concerned about climate change make use of less electricity.

They also asserted that the findings' implications point towards the irrelevance of focusing only on stated behaviors.

These also call for the need to implement more compelling and long-term strategies in encouraging residents to reduce their energy consumption.

According to Peter Lilley, a Conservative member of the committee for Commons Energy and Climate Change, the survey reveals the "hypocrisy of many who claim to be 'green'", stressing the weak link between concern about climate change and actual energy use reduction. 

TagsDepartment for Energy and Climate Change, electricity use