The aim of this study is to investigate the Taiwanese public's perceptions of tensions between the implementation of an energy policy and the practice of traditional culture. The energy policy calls for public actions to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions. The research participants are 94 people, selected by balancing sexes, ages, and residential areas, from a wide range of vocations. The research data were collected by semi-structured interview with the participants individually. Interview questions were designed to elicit the participants' constructs, beliefs, behaviours, and tensions in relation to energy policy and traditional culture. Data analysis was performed based on a qualitative methodology by the procedure of open coding, theme finding, constant comparison, and theory generation. The analysis identifies four tensions: (1) tensions in knowledge bases between energy conservation and carbon reduction, (2) tensions in lifestyles between having and being, (3) tensions in social systems between authority and conformity, and (4) tensions in creation boundaries between technology and nature. The themes underlying the four tensions are uncertainty, pleasure, power, and control, respectively. Solutions to the four tensions may include practical knowledge, pragmatic idealism, hierarchical collaboration, and sustainable innovation. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.