IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 32

energy-consumption choices. For example, when a group of
employees in a Dutch environmental organization were given
a financial incentive to start saving energy (e.g., by switching
off their computer screen during a lunch break), they ended up
saving less energy in comparison to a group of employees who
had been given a social reward (e.g., social recognition of their
efforts to save energy). what might explain this finding? one
possibility is that the financial incentive may not have been high
enough (and perceived to not be worth the effort). another possibility is that the reward did not align with employees' main
reasons for saving energy. Giving a financial reward may have
reframed the situation: saving energy was no longer a moral
choice (i.e., because of environmental benefits), but it became a
financial choice, which may not have aligned with their (intrinsic) motivations for saving energy. it is important to acknowledge that while financial incentives are effective in many cases,
they may not be a blanket approach that works for everybody
all the time.

Governance
the importance of providing consumers the right to participate in energy decisions that affect them is also germane to
this issue. research on energy policy ranging from the largescale adoption of renewables to the more individual use of
smart metering has demonstrated the importance of having
a transparent decision-making process. of particular importance is attention to procedural justice and shared governance
in individuals' acceptance of outcomes and belief in the legitimacy of decisions (see also Perlaviciute et al. in this issue).
when trust is lacking among key stakeholders, which is not
uncommon given the potential for competing stakes in the
outcome, the ability to depend on a decision-making process
viewed as fair cannot be understated. For example, customer
resistance to the first attempt at (mandatory) smart meter rollout in the netherlands not only meant that the Dutch program
had to be substantially modified, it also influenced the U.K.
rollout, which is voluntary and backed by a substantial public
relations and customer education program.

The Cognitive Fix: Information Provision
Largely absent from research on technical or structural fixes
are formative questions asking about individuals' fundamental motivations-beliefs, attitudes, and values-that guide their
behaviors. Understanding and incorporating these motivations is
integral in the design of effective communication messages and
campaigns. these types of questions can be seen as aligning with
the third or cognitive fix, which involves a belief that the provision of information can effectively modify or change individuals'
attitudes and resulting behaviors, thereby solving the problem.
the provision of information is a commonly used approach to
encourage consumers to implement energy efficiency or curtailment behaviors. the underlying idea is that by providing consumers with information, they will acquire "better" knowledge about
what they can do to save energy, and this will result in behavioral
changes. this is also known as the knowledge-deficit approach.
32

ieee power & energy magazine

But the research to date is clear: information provision
results in an increase in knowledge and awareness but does
not necessarily lead to a change in behavior. For example,
consumers who say they know that leaving one's television in
stand-by mode uses electricity will still leave their television
in that mode. People who believe in climate change do not
always adopt measures to reduce their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. the research largely indicates that information provision leads to an increase in knowledge, but it does
not result in the adoption of energy-conservation behaviors.
information is, however, a relatively inexpensive and easy way
to reach a large audience, and research from the social sciences examines the ways in which the effectiveness of information provision can be enhanced.
there are some stories of success. For example, some
interesting work is being undertaken on the use of visualization tools, with the aim of making information about
energy conservation more situation specific. For example,
drawing on theories and methods from the physical sciences and psychology, a U.K.-based study examined the
effectiveness of thermal imaging as an intervention to
encourage home retrofitting. thermal imaging is a technique that uses infrared radiation to show the heat loss of
an object. the study examined the effectiveness of thermal imaging in reducing heating-related energy consumption through homeowners' implementation of efficiency
measures such as draft proofing and insulation. compared to a no-intervention control group, households were
more likely to install draft-proofing measures and reduce
energy consumption after seeing the thermal images of
heat escaping their homes.
it is also important to tailor the information toward the
specific audience. tailoring is a process that helps create personalized communications. information can be collected about
individual households (e.g., income, household size, and attitudes toward energy conservation), and an intervention can then
be developed that meets this household's needs. in an application of tailoring, a group of Dutch researchers conveyed tailored energy-saving advice via a website. First, they collected
information from households (through an online survey) about
ownership and the use of various household appliances. then,
households were provided with tailored (i.e., relevant to their
specific context) information about energy-saving measures and
the relative impact these measures would have on their energy
bills (this was communicated to households in terms of monetary savings as well as carbon dioxide emission reductions).
compared to a no-information control group, households
who had received tailored information significantly reduced
their energy consumption.
Studies have also found modest changes in energy-consumption levels after the provision of feedback on energy use.
interventions with real-time energy information seem to be
more effective in yielding savings as are feedback interventions
that provide households with detailed energy-use information,
such as feedback on the amount of energy used by appliances.
january/february 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018