Using Incentives and Social Information to Promote Energy Conservation Behavior

Brock, Michael and Borzino, Natalia (2020) Using Incentives and Social Information to Promote Energy Conservation Behavior. In: UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Improving the efficiency in the domestic energy consumption has become a showpiece of how behavioral economics can be applied to the field of environmental economics. This study builds upon the literature by providing subjects with individual and social energy performance information at group level in a controlled field experiment setting. We aim to test whether extrinsic incentives accentuate or crowd out the intrinsic motivation to save energy and how heterogeneity in environmental attitudes also impacts on electricity conservation. Besides, we test for the persistence of energy-saving habits after the information is removed. Results suggest that the provision of individual feedback and social information increase energy conserving behavior, with this being most effective among those who signaled in a previous stage preferences for pro-environmental and sustainable living. However, treatment variations indicate that subjects overall fail to maintain “good habits” once the intervention stops, with exception of pro-environmental subjects who continue to consume less electricity in the post-intervention phase. Furthermore, our findings indicate that rewarding groups in a competitive environment may create perverse long-run effects. While providing individual and social information could improve both consumer welfare and energy demand forecasting, the timescale, frequency, and mechanism undertaken require careful scrutiny and planning if these potential benefits are to be maximized and undesirable side effects prevented.

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Uncontrolled Keywords: behavioral nudging,social norms,extrinsic motivation,field experiment,group coordination,sustainability,environmental economics,sdg 7 - affordable and clean energy ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/affordable_and_clean_energy
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Economics
Faculty of Science
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Applied Econometrics And Finance
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural Economics
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Environment, Resources and Conflict
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Migration Research Network
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Competition Policy
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 09 Oct 2020 00:00
Last Modified: 03 May 2024 00:04
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77177
DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-6093-4_8-1

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