Midway evaluation in Environmental studies - Anna Kristín Einarsdóttir

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Title of thesis: Living well within energy limits: Energy consumption and well-being in Iceland

Student: Anna Kristín Einarsdóttir

Doctoral committee:
Dr. Jukka Heinonen, Professor at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iceland
Dr. Kevin Dillman, Postdoctoral Researcher, Environment and Natural Resources, University of Iceland
Dr. Marta Rós Karlsdóttir, CEO, Baseload Power Iceland

Abstract

Energy, consumed both directly and embedded in goods and services, is a fundamental input to the provisioning systems that satisfy human needs. Since the 1950s, global energy use has grown exponentially, driven largely by high-income countries and individuals, contributing to climate change and other planetary boundary transgressions. Climate policy has focused on decarbonizing energy supply and improving efficiency, yet these measures alone are insufficient. Research increasingly shows a saturation effect, where additional energy use yields limited well-being gains, highlighting the importance of energy sufficiency. This PhD project examines energy consumption and how it connects to well-being in Iceland, a high-income country characterized by low-income inequality, high living standards, and renewable stationary energy system. Despite its clean domestic energy supply, Iceland exhibits high carbon footprints, making it a valuable case for exploring the limits of supply-side transitions and the role of demand-side approaches. A systematic review synthesizes quantitative studies examining the relationship between energy use and human well-being. Consumption-based energy footprints are estimated using survey data from Iceland (n ≈ 1,500), disaggregated across consumption domains and linked to socio-economic characteristics and subjective well-being using regression analysis. Qualitative interviews will then explore everyday practices among low-energy, high–well-being individuals. Results show that energy footprints in Iceland are high and relatively evenly distributed across income groups, with housing and private vehicle use as the dominant contributors. Saturation appears to have been reached in Iceland. Overall, the project asks how people can live well within energy limits in high-income societies and what this implies for sufficiency-oriented energy and climate policy.