A behavior-modification program has preliminary success in getting people to cut consumption
By YULIYA CHERNOVA
What if smart meters, real-time monitors and rebates aren't enough to change the way people consume electricity? What if running the washer and dryer during peak hours turns out to be a habit as difficult to kick as, say, smoking?
Journal Report
Read the full Innovations in Energy report .
As part of an effort to convince more New Yorkers to install solar panels on rooftops, the City University of New York has created a color coded digital map of the city that identifies which buildings and roofs get the most sunlight.
Some utility companies think that might be the case.
In a pilot program designed by a Colorado energy-services company, Cape Light Compact of Barnstable, Mass., is trying to encourage energy conservation among a test group of its customers by using behavior-modification techniques, some of which resemble those that help people quit smoking.
The result: Average daily electricity consumption for participants in the first year of the test fell more than 9%.
The results are hardly definitive, of course. This test involved just 91 participants. In addition, it isn't clear at this point what kind of recurring costs would be involved with behavior-modification programs. The Cape Light test cost $75,000, says spokeswoman Briana Kane. A second phase, to begin this summer, is expected to involve 500 participants and cost $323,477.
Known Unknowns
Also, even if customers are persuaded to hang their laundry on a clothesline or adopt other energy-saving habits, no one can say how long the new habits will last. Such unknowns can make planning difficult for utilities.
Tendril's program aims to cut customers' energy use through a series of prompts and responses.
Cape Light is working with Tendril Inc., a smart-grid company based in Boulder, Colo., that specializes in energy-management technology. The company has several similar tests under way elsewhere and continues to pitch the concept to other utilities as well.
Here's how the Cape Light test worked in its first year, and some of what the company has learned so far.
Two basic tools are required: The test relied on a measuring device and a website, both designed by Tendril. The device consisted of something called a CT clamp—which attached to the main electrical wire coming into each house and measured the amount of electricity being used—and a monitor that transmitted the data in real time to the website.
The website displayed each participant's data on personalized and secure pages. The site also provided a network through which the participants interacted with one another and the utility, receiving energy-saving tips and other messages that aim to encourage conservation.
Get participants to set goals: For the first test, 91 participants were selected after they responded to a 2009 newspaper advertisement. At the outset, everyone was asked by how much they wished to reduce their electricity consumption for the coming year. The average goal: a cut of about 14%.
Setting goals is a key step in behavior modification, says Tendril's Mike Bhukin, an architect and director of the firm's consumer-products group. Setting goals helps a person move from vague interest to actual commitment, Mr. Bhukin says.
Indeed, the Cape Light test found that participants who set the highest goals also achieved the biggest energy savings.
Jeff Treiber, a 55-year-old consultant on organizational efficiency and employee morale, reached his goal of 30%. Mr. Treiber lives in a classic single-story cape in South Dennis, Mass. He has tried to save energy ever since the 1970s oil crisis, he says. "I thought I was doing the right thing, but I could never see a connection to my bill," Mr. Treiber says. "It was almost a lottery."
The Cape Light program, he says, changed his relationship with the energy bill and put him in control. A dehumidifier that he used to run 24 hours, for example, is now on for only eight hours a day. He says he doesn't notice a change, except in his electricity bill.
Ask for greater commitment as you go: Tendril came up with about 200 suggested actions to help participants meet their goals. Suggestions were specific to people's situations, such as whether they had electric heat. People also received reminders to follow through on actions which they committed to.
Just as important as asking people to commit to specific actions was the order in which the suggestions appeared. Simple tasks were suggested first, to make initial participation easier and build confidence, says Paul Cole, Tendril's vice president of consumer products.
After they pick all the low-hanging fruit and see the results, says Mr. Bhukin, people start seriously considering more significant engagement. "They are now on the path to consistent behavior change," he says.
Maggie Geist, 64, executive director of the nonprofit Association to Preserve Cape Cod, began with sweeping and mopping instead of running the vacuum, then moved on to insulating her home and installing solar panels. She lives in a "clunky old farmhouse" in North Falmouth, Mass., she says. She was already careful about energy use, she says, but reduced her usage 30%.
Use points as rewards: An important part of the program was the points each participant accumulated as they did something positive—logged on to the page, committed to an action, reached their goal on a particular day. And because the points were visible to everyone, they gave people a way to show off their accomplishments.
"I'm very competitive," Mr. Treiber says. The site showed stats on the kilowatt-hours and dollars he saved, he says, but the points made the experience more like a game.
Points could be redeemed for rewards such as gift certificates, too. Mr. Treiber used a $25 gift certificate to buy power strips into which he plugged his computers and stereo.
Help people teach and encourage one another: Social-networking features on the website were crucial, partly because they helped with learning. Users could ask questions, post comments and recommendations, and compare their energy usage with that of others. (Participants could see not only their own and other people's specific data, but compare how they were doing with similar households in aggregate. Aliases were used to protect participants' identities.)
The support participants gave one another was important, too.
"If you're starting to lose weight, no one knows what you're going through like other people going through the same thing," Mr. Bhukin says.
The community aspect also gave participants a forum in which they could be seen as experts, allowing them to feel good about themselves as they helped fellow participants. As Mr. Bhukin says, people who quit smoking stay off tobacco themselves by supporting others.
Early Conclusions
Cape Light and Tendril say they are encouraged by the results so far and are continuing to study behavioral techniques. The second phase of the study, with more participants, will begin this summer.
During the first year, 60% of participants saved some energy—between one and 26 kilowatt-hours a day. The average daily savings: 2.9 kilowatt-hours.
But a quarter of the participants actually increased their energy use. "We are only starting to look into the people who haven't had as much success in the program," says Mr. Bhukin, who thinks factors such as new appliances, building additions or additional occupants may have played a role.
It's also not clear whether habits adopted during the pilot will persist. Tendril says preliminary figures for participants still with the program continue to average savings of about 8% to 9%. But will someone who cut their usage 30% in the first year continue to achieve reductions in the years that follow, or will their good intentions slip?
Says Mr. Bukhin: "No one really knows what the end game is."
Ms. Chernova is a special writer for Dow Jones VentureWire in New York. She can be reached at yuliya.chernova@dowjones.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment