In a broad sense, the role of behavior for any energy system, not just renewable energy systems, is that some behaviors require power to be performed or have as consequence that power is consumed. For example, using an electrical hairdryer will not work without power supply and pressing the on button on the washing machine results in power consumption by that appliance. Those types of behavior are often referred to as energy behaviors because such a behavior is associated with power consumption and a certain amount of energy consumption.

1. 1.

   The theory of planned behavior is one of the most perceived theories of psychological factors influencing energy behavior of occupants within building simulations of energy demand (Delzendeh et al., 2017).

2. 2.

   A lack of explanation of why and how the integrated variables from different types of theories influence pro-environmental or energy saving behavior in the specified ways is an important drawback in determining the relative influence of the different variables habit, intention, situation and norm which are discussed as important for energy using behavior but are unclear in their relative contributions.

3. 3.

   With interventions the authors (Wilson & Dowlatabadi, 2007) refer to “any of regulation, policy, program, measure, activity, or event that aims to influence behavior.” (p. 170)

4. 4.

   Total Load is defined in the online glossary from the ENTSO-E: “Total load, including losses without power used for energy storage, means a load equal to generation and any imports deducting any exports and power used for energy storage.” (ENTSO-E, 2018) Retrieved fromhttps://docstore.entsoe.eu/data/data-portal/glossary/Pages/home.aspx (accessed 04.12.2019).

5. 5.

   Using the different regularities in PV, wind onshore and offshore generation to design a well-matched energy mix for meeting demand side variations is another relevant approach to lessen the mismatch problem.

6. 6.

   Compared to generation units which can be controlled in their power generation capacity (dispatchable sources of electricity), wind and solar PV power cannot be controlled in their timing by an operator. They are non-dispatchable without additional measures such as storage units and thus cannot be used equally well to match demand (IEA, 2014).

7. 7.

   DSM is sometimes referred to as demand side integration (DSI) as a synonym, for example in the study “Demand Side Integration—Lastverschiebungspotentiale in Deutschland” (Apel et al., 2012). Sometimes DSI is described as combining activities of energy efficiency and DSM and activities of DR (e.g., IEA, 2014) and sometimes DSM is used as term for describing energy efficiency and DR strategies (e.g., Dranka & Ferreira, 2019). Here the term DSM and DR will be used in the sense of the last categorization system in which DSM is a supra-category including the two subcategories of energy efficiency and DR strategies.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Braunschweig, Germany

   Farina Wille

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Correspondence toFarina Wille.

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