How to Motivate Energy Efficiency
June 16, 2010
By Steven Castle
Pick an energy efficiency study. Any study. The results are predictable: Most people like the idea of energy efficiency.
Only …
Only little or nothing gets done about it.
Why is that?
It could be our basic inertia: We don’t like change and we don’t change until we have to. That means electric rates will have to skyrocket before many people put their computer in an energy-saving sleep mode at night. (Many of them still stay on all night.)
It could be the “green” thing and the perception that saving energy requires a sacrifice, like actually having to put your computer in sleep mode at night.
It could be that we continue to take electricity totally for granted. We plug things in and they work and we forget about them. We all do this. After all, we’ve had decades of training from cheap and available electricity.
It could be that the savings of a few percent on a typical electric bill doesn’t amount to much for people, even in these penny-pinching times.
But two of the biggest hurdles in getting people to become more energy efficient, according to Alex Laskey, president of Opower, which provides personalized energy reports to utility customers, are awareness and motivation.
Many people simply aren’t aware of the issues involved with energy efficiency, from the environmental benefits of putting less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to the economic benefits of putting more money in their pockets. And if they are aware of the economic benefits, they may not be aware of what they can do about it.
That’s where everyone selling green technology comes in. We need to educate people about the benefits of saving energy.
The motivational hurdle can be even harder, but it’s one that Laskey and Opower believe they have figured out. Opower uses social behavioral science to get people to be more energy efficient. One way it does this is through comparisons with others in a community. It’s a form of peer pressure: A paper or electronic statement from Opower to a utility customer may say the customer is not as energy efficient as others in the community. And the basic human need to be a part of a group encourages people to save.
Another powerful social science tactic is encouraging people to set goals and make commitments to achieve their energy-saving goals. “We help them track how they’re doing compared to their goal,” Laskey says. He cites Weight Watchers as a successful organization that uses goal-setting. People make a commitment and communicate to someone else that they’ve made that commitment, and that’s a powerful motivator. “People who set goals for themselves cut energy consumption by 9 to 10 percent,” Laskey says.
Watch for social behavioral science to become a big part of energy efficiency campaigns, from public service announcements to getting people interested in energy monitoring systems.