This article proposes a multi-disciplinary and systemic approach to sustainable consumption that
combines environmental considerations of energy usage from a life-cycle perspective with a social
understanding of consumption grounded in economic anthropology. The goal is to understand both
consumption patterns and drivers, with a focus on household energy consumption used for cooling
in Metro Manila, the Philippines. For different socio-economic groups, cooling devices also deliver
social and cultural services, such as socializing or adhering to Western fashion trends. This article
argues for the need to address these aspects, if reductions in household energy usage are to become
possible. The limits of individual-choice consumption theories are rendered apparent, with
examples of how institutional and structural conditions lock-in consumption patterns and limit
household choices. The notion that emerging economies might be able to =leapfrog‘ over the
environmental errors of more industrialized countries is also raised and critiqued