IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 25

It is particularly important to enhance intrinsic motivation
so that people voluntarily engage in sustainable energy behavior
over and again, without external pressure.

it is useful to differentiate intrinsic from extrinsic motivation. intrinsic motivation comes from within the individual
(e.g., rooted in values and identity) and is driven by internal
rewards, satisfaction, or fulfilment. intrinsically motivated
people behave without being coerced and without receiving
external rewards because acting morally and doing good
makes them feel good and thus yields intrinsic rewards.
intrinsic motivation can be long lasting and self-sustaining.
alternatively, motivation can be extrinsic, done for the sake
of some external outcome, such as social pressure or financial
consequences. generally, extrinsic motivation is not a stable
source of sustainable energy behavior.
When behavior is motivated by social norms or rules, people
may only engage in the relevant behavior when there is a high
chance of being socially rewarded or sanctioned. Highly visible
behaviors like driving an electric vehicle or installing residential
solar can be socially rewarding, but less visible behaviors like
installing an efficient air-conditioner or curbing its use would
be less visible and less likely to be socially rewarded. Therefore,
it is particularly important to enhance intrinsic motivation so
that people voluntarily engage in sustainable energy behavior
over and again, without external pressure. it may be possible
to design programs and policies that engage both intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation, for example, by clearly linking an extrinsic incentive to an environmental goal, but care must be taken
that the latter does not drive out the former.
research shows that people do not always carefully consider the costs and benefits of their actions. People can act
habitually, without making a conscious decision. They can
follow quick cognitive shortcuts in making decisions rather
than thinking through the implications of their actions.
Habits and decision-making shortcuts are functional, as
individuals cannot possibly consider all the costs and benefits of every action. furthermore, individuals face the same
choices repeatedly, so it would not be efficient to reconsider
every time they must act. once habits are formed, change
requires making people aware of the consequences of their
habits and undeliberated choices by employing strategies
that create the opportunity for reflection and encourage an
active decision.

Contextual Factors
contextual factors include spatial and infrastructural, economic, and cultural factors; institutional arrangements; and
access to technology, products, services, and information.
on the one hand, such contextual factors may affect behavjanuary/february 2018

ior directly by influencing the opportunities and constraints
people face and defining the cost and benefits of different
actions. for example, solar panels are easy to install on
some houses but may not be very feasible for others. contextual factors also define the financial costs, time and
effort, convenience, and the social approval and disapproval
of behaviors. These factors can vary across social groups
and affect the equity effects of sustainability polices. for
example, income tax rebates for energy efficiency may
provide little benefit to low-income households that do not
have sufficient funds to make the initial investments and
then wait for rebates. renters can change immediate consumption by adjusting thermostats and water temperatures,
but they are not in a position to buy a more energy-efficient
furnace or water heater.
in addition to making behaviors harder or easier to carry
out, context can encourage individuals to focus on particular
consequences of choices. advertising and product labeling
help frame decisions by reminding people of their values and
the relationship between those values and particular behaviors. for example, environmental symbols on products may
remind people of their biospheric values, making these values more influential in decision making than they might otherwise be. similarly, materialistic symbols (e.g., price) may
remind people of their egoistic values.

Strategies to Promote
Sustainable Energy Behavior
Policy to encourage sustainable energy behaviors will
be more effective when important drivers of the relevant
behavior are targeted and significant barriers to change
are removed. as outlined earlier, there are many forms of
sustainable energy behaviors, many individual factors that
influence them, and a variety of both broad contextual factors and context-specific framings all at play in shaping
energy choices. accordingly, many different strategies can
be followed to encourage sustainable behaviors of different
groups, targeting relevant individual and contextual factors.
We will discuss key strategies later. Policy can be aimed at
rewarding or facilitating sustainable energy behavior (pull
measures or carrots) or punishing or inhibiting undesired
behavior (push measures or sticks), and the related behavior change can be more or less voluntary or imposed. Push
measures that impose behavior change can be effective but
generally meet more public resistance than pull measures
and policy motivating voluntary change.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018