Note from team leader Brian Southwell: Members of the Communicating about Energy in the Triangle 2013-14 project team have been exploring and debating literature relevant to household energy behavior. Here are excerpts from two of our student team members.

From undergraduate Emily Jorgens:

Aggregate behavior change with regard to energy consumption should be driven by targeted and research-based policy and communication efforts. To date, efforts haven’t been as successful as they could have been; “despite ongoing attempts to encourage better energy efficiency in the home, adoption rates of technologies and behaviors lag far behind behaviors that would reflect rational economic choices” (McKinsey, 2009). This is because policy-makers and members of the energy industry have failed to incorporate the social sciences in their campaigns. A variety of literature exists explaining the complexity of human motivation behind behavior change. It is evident that identifying motivations for actions is a difficult task. However, if policy and communication efforts are shaped around scientific evidence of motivations, rather than perceived truths, the impact of those efforts could be more widespread and effective (McKenzie-Mohr et al., 2012).

Historically, energy reduction efforts have been shaped around spreading knowledge and awareness about climate change and resource scarcity. However, recent research shows that energy saving actions are often not primarily motivated by desire to conserve resources, but rather a variety of deeply rooted personal values. In a 2013 paper, for example, Mirosa and colleagues tried to gain insight into the relationship between values and energy-related behavior. Using a “laddering” method, the researchers found that many behaviors are routine and simply may not be linked to a value. However, they did find that many energy-saving actions are driven by values such as achievement, universalism, hedonism, tradition, and security. Notably, achievement is linked to energy behavior in that although “being capable is often linked to monetary factors, it is not just about the desire to save money and links to a wide range of rationalizations such as convenience, environment, situation, and comfort” (Mirosa et al., 2013). Understanding the phenomenon that specific behaviors are rooted in values can help policy makers in “planning more targeted interventions to maximize the uptake of smarter energy use by consumers.”

References

McKinsey & Co. (2009). Pathways to a low-carbon economy: Version 2 of the global greenhouse gas abatement cost curve. Retrieved from www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/ccsi/pathways_low_carbon_economy.asp.

McKenzie-Mohr, D., & Schultz, P. W. (2012 November). Choosing Effective Behavior Change Tools. Paper presented at Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change Conference. Sacramento, CA.

Mirosa, M., Lawson, R., & Gnoth, D. (2013). Linking personal values to energy-efficient behaviors in the home. Environment and Behavior, 45(4), 455-475.

From graduate student Drew Howard:

If we want to save the environment and conserve natural resources, why do we care why someone does it, as long as they are doing it? If someone doesn’t care about the environment but buys CFLs to save money, I applaud them. This is really good news for a lot of people in the environmental sector, as well as clean energy and many other industries. Environmentalism doesn’t have to be a political lefty issue. It is becoming a practical thing to do. People will react favorably to this, if they are directed to do so. This is where marketing comes in.

One of the main goals of marketing is to sell product. When attempting to sell a product, a good marketer enumerates the advantages of the product and how it will make the consumer’s life better. Some people are happy to buy a product that has only non-use value – if it protects Alaskan wilderness or saves a tiger – but for other people, this is not a selling point. In terms of low income consumers – my opinion following – people need to be concerned with taking care of their own family before they worry about the environment. There are so many people in our country who struggle to make ends meet. Their first interest is for the well being of their family. So instead of selling the environment, sell them a product that saves them money. This is true of people from most income levels. People don’t tend to turn down free money.

A change in thinking is required to make this happen. It can be seen already in large scale marketing campaigns, such as with CREE’s LED bulb. They list how long it lasts, how much money it saves, and then throw in the environment at the end. My approach would be to gather market research on the people who do not use any energy efficient behavior at all. I would then change my pitch and show them the savings they could have with improvements, and go from there.