Beyond Energy Efficiency: Behavior

for Utilities Engaging Sustainability

Susan Mazur-Stommen, Ph.D.Principal and Founder, Indicia Consulting

Susan Mazur-Stommen is a cultural anthropologist who has researched culture, behavior, and sustainability for 20 years. Her work is concerned with aspects of energy consumption and behavior change.

Questions of interest to her include how small individual effects may add up to large collective impacts.

BehaviorEverything comes back to human behavior, even installed technologyIf people do not choose to purchase or use the right technology, then it will not do the jobWe are all convinced that, with the right medium and data visualization and presentation, people will just ‘get it’

In fact, we need to make our issues concrete and visible to people in real-time, rather than abstract and after the fact.

What does Behavior DO?

Research shows that behavior programs can deliver consistent savings at scale

Research shows that behavior programs can reach new audiences for older programs

Research shows that behavior programs integrate well with technology-based programs

Research shows that behavior programs need not be capital intensive to start*

Track every program

All Behavior-based programs are measurableTrack the success of programsMetrics can be creative, and depend upon your context

At a minimum correlate with energy/resource savings

What not to do

Consumers do not need to have their cognitive load increased – brain hurts! Being educated, made aware, or

taught to think about resource use isn’t sufficient to affect change

People don’t use resources, they use products and services

What IS a “behavior program”?

All energy/resource programs involve human activity and decision making.

BUT

Programs can achieve greater impact and deeper savings by incorporating insights from social and behavioral sciences.

Not limited to energy

• Behavior programs work in other areas that intersect with energy:• Water• Food• Waste• Transportation• Air quality• Health• Management• Training

8 Behavior Tools• Commitment (including goal-setting)• Feedback• Follow-through• Framing (e.g., choice architecture)• In-person interactions• Rewards or gifts• Social norms• + Multi-pronged or “stacked” strategies – use two or more

strategies.List based on the CA whitepaper “Paving the Way for a Richer Mix of Behavioral Programs,” and the “ACEEE Field Guide to Utility-Run Behavior Programs”

Definitions Commitment programs ask people to set explicit goals or

make public pledges. Feedback programs give customers info on their energy

use and related cost. Follow-through programs use prompts/nudges people to

make a behavior change. Framing is the construction and context of a message,

emphasizing benefits, or preventing a loss rather than incurring a gain.

Framing can also refer to how the default options on a product or program are set (e.g., opt in versus opt out).

Definitions

In-person programs use individuals as credible messengers Or as models for desirable behavior.

Reward programs trade on the exchange of financial incentives for behavioral adaptations.

Social norms programs use comparative data to encourage people to conform to local behavioral expectations.

Multi-pronged strategies are a combination of types, such as framing and feedback, for heightened impact.

Tool: PromptsPrompts are VISIBLE calls to a specific action, “Did you turn out the lights?”

Prompts are NOT slogansPrompts can be delivered through signage, feedback devices, or reminders Prompts need to be placed in physical proximity to targeted actionPrompts need to be deployed close to the timing of the actionWhen to use it: If a major barrier to completing an action is forgetfulness or a lack of instant cues, providing a prompt can be an effective intervention.

Tool: Social Norming

No one wants to be weird!Offer demonstration of ‘the norm’

Make behavior impacts visibleWith ‘norms’ NUMBERS MATTER.

Show people that other people are doing it too.When to use it: If there is a lack of motivation due to uncertainty about social acceptance

Compost toilets, anyone?

Three families of behavior programs

Cognition:Programs where intrinsic psychological processes are foremost

Calculus:Programs where the deliberation of extrinsic aspects play a primary motivating role

Social interaction:Programs whose key drivers are sociability and belonging

Cognition: Motivated by intrinsic factors

Communication efforts General

Cable or broadcast TV

Radio Billboards Other traditional

media outlets Targeted

Enhanced billing Direct mail Bill inserts User-friendly bill

designs

Social media Facebook Twitter Tumblr Blogs

Education and training In schools

K-12 Higher education

In companies or institutions Commercial Industrial

Social Media

Any format that is primarily one-directional, with information provided by and commented on, but not created by, recipients.

Online forums are not social media -- they fall under Social rather than Cognitive

Key feature is transparency of the medium: anyone who has a Twitter account can see a tweet from another account, and the same holds true for Tumblr and Pinterest These are all public-facing platforms.

Calculus: Motivated by extrinsic factors

Feedback Real-time Asynchron

ous Games

Competitions

Challenges Lotteries

Incentives Cash Rebates Subsidies

Home energy audits Audit only Audit+

Installation Direct install DIY

GamificationGamification is “approaching problems from the perspective of a game designer to tap into the psychology of motivation.”

Identifies the features of games that keep players’ attention and applies them to real-world situations.

Elements like leaderboards, achievements, and leveling up provide motivation for players to continue playing.

A leaderboard is a list of players who have the most points or best times in a game.

Leaderboards can be useful for inspiring competition.An achievement is a reward for completing a certain set of tasks within a game.

SOCIAL INTERACTION: sociability and belonging

Human scale Community-based

social marketing (CBSM)

Person-to-person Peer champions Eco-teams

Online forums Gifts/Reciprocity

Behavior change campaigns

Must be multi-modal, multi-channel, multi-message, multi-messenger.

Must meet people on their own ground, using language they understand, and peer-champions they relate to (perfect for low-income!)

Must use methods appropriate for all audiences (ages, incomes).

Must move past pilot projects organizations need to step up to deploying the types of programs we have shown to work, at scale.

Behavior programs are often misperceived as 'cheap’

A well-designed, properly implemented program will not be cheap, but it will be cost-effective.

‘Save the Crabs’ in Chesapeake Bay

Run-off was impacting the water quality in the Chesapeake BayUsing CBSM, homeowners were asked to complete one specific action: to fertilize in the fall instead of the spring to reduce runoff into the bay. The slogan “Save the crabs…then eat them later” Homeowners displayed signs reading, “No appetizers were harmed in the making of this lawn.”The campaign included print and TV media buys Post-campaign survey results showed that those who were exposed to the campaign were significantly more likely not to fertilize their lawn in the spring (Landers et al. 2006).

Scoop the PoopAustin, Texas has a reputation for being a dog-friendly town

Downside: they deal with 60,000 pounds of dog waste every day This impacts waterways, leading to bacteria, algal blooms, and fish kills.

As a deterrent, the city of Austin implemented a $500 fine for dog owners who do not clean up after their dogs.

No officer, no citation, no compliance. Surveys and interviews identified several barriers to actually cleaning up dog poop:

No convenient access to plastic baggiesTrash cans not close byThe task is messy and dirty“One little pile” is not a problemThe belief that it is natural/beneficial fertilizer!!!

To combat these barriers, “Mutt Mitt” stations were installed in city parks.

In 2000, 25 stations were installed, by 2010 over 150 stations were available in 90 parks. The stations are stocked with plastic bags that “protect the hand like a glove.” The stations are accompanied by with a phone number for people to call to report violations or empty dispensers

Problems with water quality remained, so in 2009 messaging was added to the Scoop the Poop program in Austin:In 2001, 75,000 Mutt Mitts were distributed to dispose of about 37,500 pounds of dog waste. By 2009, about 2.4 million Mitts were distributed to dispose of 1.2 million pounds of dog waste.MEASURABLE CHANGE?Bacteria levels in local streams near off-leash dog parks have improved.

Scoop the Poop

TakeawayThere is no one single program that will magically turn people environmentally conscious!

However, behavior change programs -- in combination with one another -- with attention being paid to local, specific conditions and on-the-ground social realities, can boost program success significantly.

One theme to bind them One theme that comes through consistently it is that

there is no universal solution. Any program or policy must:

Keep it local and respect the culture

Practice segmentation of target audience

Use emerging technologies to reinforce good habits

Parse your data to understand consumer behavior

Focus on outcomes rather than outputs

Want more Behavior?

• Go to www.indiciaconsulting.com• Follow us on Twitter: @IndiciaInfo Like us on Facebook: https://

www.facebook.com/indiciaconsulting • The Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change

conference (BECC) also has numerous resources, available at:• Website: http://beccconference.org/ • LinkedIn: http://

www.linkedin.com/groups/Behavior-Energy-Climate-Change-BECC-3794406

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BECCconference • Twitter: https://twitter.com/BECCconference