Behavioral

adapta.on to climate change

Experiences from an energy use feedback project
Mediterranean Ci9es Conference June 25, 2012
Dr. Miriam Fischlein Ins9tute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA

Individual behavior and climate change adapta9on

Private consump9on is at root of climate change challenge. Individuals drive poli9cal and ins9tu9onal change (public pressure). Policy decisions are made by individuals.

ANer Liverani, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5058 2009

Why does behavior maTer?

Private adapta9on in the energy sector
Demand response and conserva9on Adop9on of new cooling and insula9on technologies Smart grid

Why does behavior maTer?

Technology-based adapta9on Behavioral approaches
Low cost Fast response Technology enabled

Is informa9on eec9ve at driving behavioral adapta9on?

Poten9al

> 40% of CO2 emissions Up to 15% poten9al reduc9on with feedback 76 million smart meters worldwide Low price of electricity Electricity usage almost invisible to consumers

Challenges

ENGAGE study

Challenges
Low price of electricity Invisible electricity usage

How does informa9on inuence electricity usage? ENGAGE inves9gates the eect of:

real-9me usage data at the appliance level, informa9on on impacts (cost vs health),

ENGAGE study
Energy metering system Real-9me, appliance level informa9on Par9cipants can view:
Historical comparisons Peer comparisons

Field site UCLA Graduate Student Family Housing 1, 2 + 3 bedroom apartments Pay own bills 120 apartments instrumented

Panel Meters CB Circuit Breaker Panel CTs

Gateway

Es9mated and actual usage by appliance

Par.cipants (own es.mate) Par.cipants (actual)
14% 25%

48%

Ligh9ng HVAC Plug load 66% 27% 20%

Ligh9ng HVAC Plug load

Preliminary results
!! Study!Variables! ! Post:Treat*Financial!Savings! ! Post:Treat*Health! ! !!!!!Post0Treat*Financial!Savings*Children! ! !!!!!Post0Treat*Health*Children! ! Children! ! Environmental!Organization! ! Heating!Degree!Hours! ! Cooling!Degree!Hours! ! ! Observations! Number!of!Apartments! Wald!chi0square!(39)! !
Weather data provided by the Na.onal Clima.c Data Center (NCDC)

(1)! (2)! (3)! Total!kWh! Total!kWh! Total!kWh! ! :1.898***! (0.127)! :3.067***! (0.119)! ! ! ! ! 2.967***! (0.0979)! 01.392***! (0.115)! 0.240***! (0.00907)! 0.0168! (0.0185)! ! :1.935***! (0.140)! :3.067***! (0.119)! 0.211! (0.326)! ! ! 2.958***! (0.0991)! 01.389***! (0.115)! 0.241***! (0.00907)! 0.0168! (0.0185)! ! :1.870***! (0.127)! :1.768***! (0.157)! ! ! :3.064***! (0.243)! 3.434***! (0.103)! 01.491***! (0.114)! 0.243***! (0.00911)! 0.0172! (0.0186)!

! ! ! 332,961! 332,961! 332,961! 119! 119! 119! 61,754***! 61,768***! 59,527***!

Estimation!by!Generalized!Least!Squares!(GLS)!clustered!by!Apartment!ID.! Standard!errors!in!parentheses!***!p<0.01,!**!p<0.05,!*!p<0.1!

Not shown: Controls for Household Demographics: Apartment Size, No. of Occupants, Square Footage, Time Dummies: Day of the Week, Hourly dummies, Constant

Results
Results
Health-based messaging is more eec9ve than nancial savings messaging. We observe load shiNing at the appliance level.

Future uses of energy behavior lab

Rene messaging Target load-shiNing

Lessons from ENGAGE

Informa9on can be eec9ve Type of informa9on maTers
Framing Immediate + ac9onable informa9on Trustworthy sources Local community

Encouraging behavioral change

Move from informa9on to communica9on Account for decision-making constraints
Favor local, visible, and privately securable outcomes

Harness the power of social norms

People look to others to orient their behavior. Increase visibility of behaviors and their impact.

ANer Liverani, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5058 2009