UW-Whitewater

Can behavior change be part of the solution?An experiment with real-time electricity meters anda LEED residence hallDr. Eric Compas, Dr. Andrew Ciganek, Dr. Jennifer Flad, UW-WhitewaterDr. Lance Weinhart, Medical College of Wisconsin

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• Replace with more efficient technology• Reduce usage through automated systems

• Don’t rely on the human to do much, if anything

Conventional approach

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• Dietz et al. 2009: Changes in basic household actions could reduce our

national CO2 emissions by 7.4% “with little to no reduction in household well-being.”

• Significant potential for reducing impact through behavioral changes Little to no cost Grandma environmentalism

Behavior wedge

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• Multiple potential drivers for behavior: Intrinsic values Economic incentives Social and peer pressure Regulatory, penalties

Theory

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New technology

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• Opened in Aug. 2010• 119 suites,

446 residents• LEED Gold

New residence hall

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Meters

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• Development of pilot survey, Fall 2011• All students surveyed in Dec 2010-Feb 2011

Using Dunlap et al. (2000) modified “new ecological paradigm” questions to measure environmental attitudes

Addition questions about knowledge of electricity, relationships to suite-mates, and basic demographics

• Residence hall split into control and treatment groups Control – no access to meter data or website Treatment – access to meter data, website, and training

on how to use

Research project

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Preliminary data

1 2 3 4 50

20

40

60

80

R² = 0.0141514037147225

Daily electricity usage (kWh) vs. NEP score

NEP Score

kW

h

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• Repeat study for multiple years• Treatments to test

Regulatory – penalties for using excessive amounts Market-based – pay bill for usage Social – add transparency to system, neighbors can

view usage Various ways of visualizing data

• Which will yield the greatest reduction in electricity usage? Wagers?

Future plans

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• Looking at possibility of using City of Whitewater to examine water usage behavior when provided near real-time data

…water next

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• Significant logistical and technical support from UWW Residential Life and iCIT

Acknowledgement