Saving Power to conserve your reputation?

Student Resident Energy St d t R id t E Conservation:

July 2011

Robert Gilbert, Ph.D.

Housing & Hospitality Services University of California Los Angeles California,

Energy conservation
Buildings account for over two thirds of electricity usage Currently, electricity usage almost invisible to residents Estimated 1% 40% potential reduction with feedback 1%-40% Challenges:
Low price of electricity High costs of action Difficulty of interpreting information

Effectiveness of smart meters alone is unclear This study aims to investigate non-pecuniary incentives that y g p y will interact with real-time feedback to reduce usage

Our experiment
Students living in UCLA residential halls have no g data over their electricity usage We i t ll l t i it W install electricity meters in 66 UCLA residence t i id hall rooms
Electricity usage broken down by source y g y

We encourage energy conservation through two behavioral interventions:

1. 2.

real-time feedback over electricity usage, combined with social norms Reputation effects

Social norms
People tend to look to others, especially a majority, t decide h j it to d id how to behave. Messages showing that many (or most) others y( ) are doing something in a certain way influence one s ones actions

Boomerang effect
California households energy use were monitored and then gy doorknob cards were delivered to each house telling them how their energy use compared to the norm. Over the next few weeks, those households who had had above average usage reduced their consumption by 5.7%; but those whose usage was below average increased their consumption by g g p y 8.6%. They fixed this middle magnet by putting smiley faces on the middle magnet cards or those whose energy use was low and frowny faces on the cards of those whose usage was high.
Schultz, P. W.; Nolan, J.M.; Cialdini, R.B; Goldstein, N.J.; and Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms, Psychological Science, 18:429-434.

Social Norms
Two types of social norms:
Descriptive describes norm of behavior Injunctive makes value judgment over norm j j g

Descriptive norms cause boomerang effect (convergence to norm) ( ) Injunctive norms cause above average users to reduce usage

Reputation/status/conspicuous consumption ti
Conspicuous consumption is consumption that sends out a signal, rather than satisfies an intrinsic need
E.g. Chinese Mandarins and long fingernails Branded clothing

Private vs Public Information

Private information about energy conservation & normal behavior
Tells user where they fit in compared to others May influence consumption y p

Public information about energy conservation & normal behavior

Individuals are motivated by how people perceive them Desire for social approval

People will act more prosocially in public than in private settings, so public information will be more effective than private information ff ti th i t i f ti

Experimental Design
Baseline (6 weeks) B li k ) Period P i d 1 (6 weeks) k ) FALL 2010 Control Feedback Only Feedback + Reputation Feedback Feedback Feedback Feedback + Reputation Period P i d 2 (5 weeks) k ) WINTER 2011

Feedback (combined with descriptive norm):

Access to Engage dashboard (webpage) Weekly electricity usage reports

Reputation: p
Rooms publicly rated as above/below average energy conservers

Experiment Location
UCLA Rieber Terrace Rieber Vista and Hedrick Summit Terrace, Constructed 2005/2006 700-1000 residents each Students have control of thermostats, plugs and lights

Technology

Technology

Timeline

2010
Winter
Technology development

Spring
Pilot deployment

Summer
Recruitment, survey and installation

Fall
Baseline and feedback treatment

2011
Winter Feedback and status treatment Spring Persistence

Feedback Treatment Engage Interface

Real-time energy use R l ti

Energy usage by source Social and historical comparisons

Feedback Treatment weekly email

Status Treatment Engage Energy Stars

Survey I Baseline I Feedback I Feedback & Status y

496 Completed surveys 326 Volunteers for experiment

102 quasi-randomly chosen on basis of room quasi randomly assignments (66 rooms)
What % of electrical usage do you think comes from the following sources for a typical Rieber Terrace Room? Overhead lighting? O h d li hti ? Heating and cooling? Plug load (items plugged into electric outlets e.g. laptops, fridges, etc.)? etc )?

Survey I Baseline I Feedback I Feedback & Status y

Survey I Baseline I Feedback I Feedback & Status y

Baseline electrical usage (Fall 2010)

70% of the rooms are singles Total electricity usage per room is 182 kwh per month California average is 587 kwh per household or 201 kwh per capita!

Averagedailyusageperroominwatthours(wh)
Totalusage(Wh) heating/cooling(Wh) Light(Wh) Plug(Wh) Pl (Wh) N BaselinePeriod mean 6058.31 4346.39 285.37 1426.55 1426 55 sd min min 4431.13 250.35 4222.53 0.00 165.41 0.00 1190.02 1190 02 61.32 61 32 65 6weeks max 20929.07 19622.28 661.30 6214.64 6214 64

Survey I Baseline I Feedback I Feedback & Status y

Turned off lights Reduction in lights equivalent to

Turning off main light for one hour a day 15% of period 1 average (for lights)

Survey I Baseline I Feedback I Feedback & Status y

Focus group/survey F db k group F / Feedback

It was interesting watching my power consumption between days, and I feel that having access to my power usage made y g y g me more aware and considerate of the amount of power I used. I think everyone should h thi k h ld have access t thi t to this type of i f f information, ti as well as a comparison of what the amount of energy consumed is equivalent to. In order to get people to consume less energy, peop e should people s ou d be a a e o the e aware of e environmental be e s o do g o e a benefits of doing so. The amount of energy that I consume compared to other rooms wasn't a great enough incentive to cut back, and maybe some additional information about the scale of my consumption would be nice But overall I think it's a great step to nice. it s promoting greater conservation!

Survey I Baseline I Feedback I Feedback & Status y

Reputation Effect reductions equivalent to

30% reduction i average period 2 of d i in i d f heating/cooling An additional 7% reduction in average period 2 of lights 5% reduction in plug load

Focus groups/survey Reputation Group

Poster
Once the poster got up, it became serious I liked the poster, it made us want to get green dots We want to make it green because red looks bad I thought the posters were pretty crucial to the whole process. It gets everyone else involved. We wanted to compete I turned off all the lights and wear a lot of sweaters so I could get a green dot When I got a green dot, I received high 5 We did not want to attract attention because we were red Worried about how people perceive you

What did you learn?

The poster was good but you need the dashboard I learned that my actions made a difference y I learned that Heating requires a lot of energy

Persistence?
I maintain my habits now. I unplug my fridge when I leave for the weekend I enjoyed p j y participating in this experiment because I feel that it has p g p changed my habit a lot. Now, I am more conscious of using electricity and I am trying my best to conserve energy. (after poster is removed) I miss the poster I wanted to show the world!

Conclusion
Information is effective for conservation behavior
Feedback with social norm has an effect on light usage

Public Information is more effective than private information

Reputation motivates high electricity users to conserve

Persistence? A larger sample size is needed to properly investigate g p heterogeneous responses and motivations
CARB funded experiment in UCLA University Village next year Equip150 graduate students apartments Appliance level granularity Long-term installation in Sustainability Themed Community