Real-time feedback reduces energy consumption among the broader public without financial incentives

Tiefenbeck, Verena; Wörner, Anselma; Schöb, Samuel; Fleisch, Elgar; Staake, Thorsten

doi:10.1038/s41560-019-0480-5

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…By knowing how they perform, people will be able to adjust their behaviour, and therefore feedback is presumed to be an effective behaviour change strategy [9]. Most studies testing the effect of feedback in the environmental domain focused on energy conservation and found that it can reduce energy use [6][7][8][9]11]. Some studies have focused on recycling behaviour [12], and suggest feedback can increase the quality and the amount of recycling materials in households and at universities [13][14][15][16].…”

Section: Feedback and Comparison Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feedback to Minimize Household Waste a Field Experiment in The Netherlands

Werff

Lee

2021

Sustainability

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Households can reduce environmental problems by minimizing their waste. Studies suggest that feedback may promote waste minimization. We propose that the effectiveness of feedback depends on the standard to which the feedback is compared. We tested the effect of feedback on waste minimization compared to a personal goal (goal comparison feedback), the behaviour of others (social comparison feedback), or one’s past behaviour (historical comparison feedback). Furthermore, the underlying process explaining the effect of feedback on behaviour is yet unclear. We tested the influence of feedback on environmental self-identity, self-efficacy, and descriptive social norms to minimize waste. We conducted a field study in the Netherlands. Households received feedback during six months on the number of residual waste bags they produce. The results show that all intervention groups reduced their number of waste bags including the control group that only received information on how to reduce waste. Yet, a comparison neighbourhood did not reduce their actual waste during the same time period. We did not find clear differences between the different feedback comparison standards. Furthermore, the feedback did not influence any of the process variables. We found that environmental self-identity was most consistently related to self-reported waste behaviours.

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Section: Feedback and Comparison Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feedback to Minimize Household Waste a Field Experiment in The Netherlands

Werff

Lee

2021

Sustainability

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“…Results about social feedback are mixed. Despite effectiveness being reported in some studies [127], the average effect size of social feedback is small to negligible [2,32]. Some studies suggest that larger SI effects were found when the control group is very similar to the treated group in terms of socio-demographics [48].…”

Section: Social Influencementioning

confidence: 94%

Encouraging pro-environmental behaviours: A review of methods and approaches

Grilli

Curtis

2021

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

115

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Many urgent environmental problems can be mitigated with more sustainable use of resource. An acknowledgement of which is a growing interest among policy practitioners in encouraging pro-environmental behaviour change initiatives. The effect of anthropic pressure on the environment is long known and the first pro-environmental behaviour studies date back to the middle 1970s. Despite this, the scientific literature has not yet answered several questions: what are the most suitable ways to encourage behavioural changes? What are the barriers to project implementation? What are the long run effects of behavioural change projects? With this in mind, this contribution offers a review of the existing literature on behavioural change case studies and provides a categorisation of treatments and guidelines for successful project implementation. Five different approaches have been considered: education and awareness, social influence, relationship building, incentives and nudges, which have been used in experimental studies. On balance the case studies suggest that all approaches are suitable but their selection should be based on specific objectives and target population. Interestingly, the choice of the behaviour to change is rarely discussed before project implementation. This analysis also highlights that little is known on whether behaviour change projects achieve sustained pro-environmental behavioural change over time.

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“…Scientific evidence indicates that real-time feedback and personalized feedback are particularly effective. 10 For example, in-shower devices that display energyconsumption in real-time have been shown to reduce energy-intensive hot water demand. Feedback on gas consumption and costs could be delivered to consumers with remotely readable gas metering devices.…”

Section: Which "Behavioral" Tools Are Available For Policy Makers or ...mentioning

confidence: 99%