Much has been written and many energy efficiency programs have been designed and implemented to make our residential buildings perform better. An entire industry (home performance) has been built around providing highly trained investigators who diagnose building deficiencies and recommend cost-effective solutions. Although we have continued to focus on the structured environment, fewer resources have been dedicated to up-fitting residents with the knowledge and tools to change long-standing habits and make better energy use decisions. Habits are difficult to change, whether they are physiological, influenced by our own routines and needs, or sociological, coming from constantly changing environmental and social influences. Addressing one without understanding the impact of the other is a prescription for disappointing results.
Many theories have been used to account for household energy consumption dating back to at least the 1970s. Traditional economic
approaches combined with rational choice theory hypothesize that people will make the best decisions that they can within their budget restraints. From this perspective, behavior choices can be influenced by providing information to increase knowledge and awareness and by providing more options (Frederiks et al., 2015).
More recently, a growing body of research provides evidence to suggest that people often don’t act rationally and that increasing knowledge alone is not enough to create behavior change (McKenzie-Mohr, 2000; Frederiks et al., 2015; Vigen & Mazur-Stommen, 2012). For example, Geller (1981) found that people who indicated interest in enhancing the energy efficiency of their homes and participated in a workshop on energy conservation did not change their behavior despite measured change in knowledge and attitudes.
Community-based social marketing has emerged as an alternative to the rational-choice/attitude-behavior and economic self-interest models. The community-based social marketing model is based on a five-step approach that identifies barriers to the desired behavior and designs strategies to overcome those barriers (see Vigen & Mazur-Stommen, 2012).
Based on behavioral research across these models, ideas on how to better influence behavior change related to promoting energy-efficient behaviors have been identified. These include the following:
• Identifying barriers to the desired behavior change, as barriers to change can be both internal (e.g., lacking a necessary skill to make a home improvement) and external (lack of local access to goods such as programmable thermostats). Understanding the specific barriers experienced by individuals is a prerequisite for change (McKenzie-Mohr, 2000).
• Setting defaults and leveraging status quo bias, or targeting interventions at behaviors that can be done once and forgotten, can be more effective (e.g., changing a setting on a household appliance to conserve energy) (Fredericks et al., 2015).
• Information framing and design, as how information is conveyed can be important over and above what information is conveyed. Information that is specific, vivid, and personalized is more likely to change behavior (Stern, 1992). In addition, messages should be clear and easy to remember. Matching presented information to the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the target audience is also critical. How information is framed is important (McKenzie-Mohr, 2000; Stern, 1992). Presenting information in a way that emphasizes the losses that can occur from inaction as opposed to the savings that may occur from action, are in general, more effective in promoting the targeted activity.
For example, Kahneman & Teversky (1979) found that presenting information on a water heater wrap as a way to avoid losing money was more effective than when it was presented as a way to save money. In addition, the source of information can impact the effectiveness of
a message (Stern, 1992). A study by Craig and McCann (1978) found that messages from a trusted source yielded more requests for energy conservation information and a greater actual savings than messages initiated from a less-trusted source. Conducting formative research with the target audience can be used to identify trusted sources.
• Offering incentives, as incentives have proven to help promote energy- efficient behaviors, particularly if the motivation to engage in the targeted behavior is low (McKenzie-Mohr, 2000).
• Leveraging normative social influence, which can take the form of framing the desired energy saving practices as common and socially desirable, can help shape behavior (Fredericks et al., 2015).
In light of these behavior influence models, utilities have invested in a number of initiatives, most notably the home energy reports that are now delivered by utility companies to millions of homes each month. Most utilities also have excellent do-it-yourself (DIY) tutorials available online for doing home efficiency tasks. Home energy reports provide customers with easy- to-understand analysis of their electricity bill along with comparisons with a selected sampling of similar households within a selected geographic area. Energy reductions in the 3 to 5 percent range have been achieved from home energy reports programs (Seattle City Light, 2013).
Other behavioral programs, including neighborhood competitions, gamification platforms, classroom education, and social media and online forums are being implemented in many communities. The ACEEE Field Guide to Utility-Run Behavior Programs counted 281 such programs, many with multiple iterations (Mazur-Stommen & Farley, 2013). While there are many programs and approaches, data on the cost-effectiveness of the programs is scarce, as few have reported both the cost to deliver the program and the actual energy savings that have resulted (Mazur-Stommen & Farley, 2013).