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Reducing household energy use through tailored dissonance, feedback and prompts

Reducing household energy use through tailored dissonance, feedback and prompts. Wokje Abrahamse, Christine Kormos, Jan Willem Bolderdijk, Antonella Meloni, Adina Dimutru, Maja Fischer, Victoria Hurth, Karin Johnson, Martijn Keizer, Nadine Page. Lecturers: Phil Lehman, Annika Nordund. Overview.

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Reducing household energy use through tailored dissonance, feedback and prompts

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  1. Reducing household energy use through tailored dissonance, feedback and prompts Wokje Abrahamse, Christine Kormos, Jan Willem Bolderdijk, Antonella Meloni, Adina Dimutru, Maja Fischer, Victoria Hurth, Karin Johnson, Martijn Keizer, Nadine Page. Lecturers: Phil Lehman, Annika Nordund

  2. Overview • Research proposal: • Problem definition and research goals • Design • Quick & ‘clean’ list

  3. Problem definition • How to reduce household energy use through small behavioral changes? • Barriers: Intangible, invisible, and anonymous • Context • Target groups • Disconnect between customers’ perceptions and behavior

  4. Sample • High energy users • Potential for large gains: big impact through small changes • By definition use more energy than average: can be used as leverage for dissonance/normative influence

  5. Experiment • Research goal: • To employ psychologically-based action research to affect enduring behavioral change • Measure energy use in 500 households: • Smart meters • Gauged by ENECO representative • Entered manually online

  6. 1) Control group 2) Prompt group 3) Motivational group 4) Combined group Survey 1 Survey 2 Experimental phase Post-measurement Pre-measurement Timeline

  7. Prompt group Physical reminders that reduce the gap between intention and action • Habit • Automatic • Applied behavioral analyses • Reminder in close proximity to behavior

  8. Prompting materials • Action box; e.g., • Color-coded information action cards • Color-coded stickers • Check list • Shower timer

  9. Motivation group: Persuasion techniques • Dissonance • Highlighting inconsistency between beliefs and action motivates behavior change • Tailoring • Information is personalized to match specific motivations

  10. Evoking dissonance ‘You previously indicated that you were concerned about the environment.’ ‘However, our records show that, as compared to other similar sized participating households you are currently using more energy.’

  11. Tailoring feedback

  12. Combined group • Palmer, Lloyd, Lloyd (1977): interaction between prompts and feedback potentially very effective • What does motivation add?

  13. 1) Control group 2) Prompt group 3) Motivational group 4) Combined group Survey 1 Survey 2 Experimental phase Post-measurement Pre-measurement Timeline

  14. Survey 1 • More info on clients in order to tailor feedback and make comparisons to other populations • E.g. • Socio-demographics • Motivational variables • Self-reported behavior

  15. Post-intervention Survey • Frequency of prompts installed • Changes in reported energy use behavior In addition… • In-depth interviews with representatives from each target group

  16. Quick and “Clean” • Energy bill: graphs, comparison to average, increase frequency • Target households with children with special stickers, activity packs and awards – kids can help convince parents to use them • The Energy Orb: immediate feedback

  17. Conclusion • Longer term effects through research • Innovative insight into target groups • Capitalizes on disconnect between behavior and values • Allows ENECO to be innovative in customer relations

  18. Thank you! Any questions?

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