Longitudinal Analysis of Normative Energy Use Feedback on Dormitory Occupants
31 Pages Posted: 5 Nov 2015
Date Written: November 3, 2015
Abstract
Behavioral approaches to reduce energy consumption in the built environment are becoming increasingly common. In particular, the application of individual feedback and the use of social norms have shown promise in the short term for improving occupant energy use behavior in the home. However, the long term effects, role of messaging intensity, and relative effect of normative elements in feedback messages remain less clear. This paper attempts to address this gap in the literature by conducting and analyzing two yearlong field experiments that test the effect of normative feedback messages. In the short term adding normative elements to feedback messages had no effect on energy consumption. However, when examining behavior change by occupant concern for norms it was found that individuals with high concern for social norms positively responded to the normative elements with an estimated treatment effect of 14%. Conversely individuals with low concern for social norms had the opposite reaction with an estimated treatment effect of -5%. Further, it was discovered that the duration of normative messaging positively influenced the long term durability of behavior change. The long term effect of behavior change was twice as prevalent in individuals with high concern for social norms.
Keywords: Social Norms, Normative feedback, Home energy use, Randomized experiment, Long term behavior change
JEL Classification: C93, D12, Q41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation