Interventions to encourage behaviour change have the potential to generate significant energy savings in Ireland. To increase the probability of success, the choice and design of these interventions should be informed by the best available evidence. In order to identify the best strategies for activating behaviour-related energy savings in Ireland, the Sustainable Enegy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) performed an extensive analysis of international best practice. This review indicates that incorporating behaviourally informed interventions into the design of future energy policy in Ireland will strengthen Ireland’s ability to transition to a low-carbon economy.

1. Changing Energy
Behaviour – What Works?
A review of international precedent
Task 24 – DSMU Webinar by Karl Purcell, SEAI.
1

2. Outline
1. Introduction to SEAI’s Behavioural Economics Unit
2. Search Strategy and Focus
3. Encouraging Households to Save Energy – What Works
4. Encouraging Businesses to Save Energy – What Works
5. Changing Transport Behaviour – What Works
6. School-Based Programs – What Do We Know?
7. What’s Missing from the Literature?
8. Recommendations for Future Research
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3. 3
Introduction to SEAI’s
Behavioural Economics
Unit

4. SEAI Behavioural Economics Unit
Behavioural Research
Experimental Design
Psychology/Carbon Mgmt.
Karl Purcell Marek Bohacek Andrew O'Callaghan
Behavioural Problem Diagnosis
Experiment Implementation
Behavioural Science
Data Modelling
Language Programming
Psychology/Neuroscience
Phil Hemmingway
Research and Development
Program Manager
Research Evaluation

5. What We Do…
5

6. What is Behavioural Economics?
Behavioural
Economics
Economics
PsychologySociology
“Context Matters”
“Incentives Matter”
“Culture and
Society Matters”
• TOU Pricing
• Payback Period
• Action of Neighbours
• Perception of
Consequences
• Feedback
• Hassle Factors
• Availability Bias

7. 7
Search Strategy and
Focus

8. We examined…
8

9. We read a lot of papers and reports…
9
Database
Search
• 2,423
papers
identified
Abstract
Review
• 695
relevant
papers
Detailed
Review
• 176
papers
included

10. Really…we read a lot of papers and reports…
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Metered
Savings/Observed
Behaviour
Included a control group
over lengthy time period

11. We Summarised Each Paper in a Standard Template
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12. We then Agreed Common Themes and Wrote a Policy Note…
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13. So, what did we find?
Encouraging
Households to Save
Energy
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14. Encouraging Households to Save Energy
~10%
~4%
~3%~4%
~3% ~+5pp*

15. EAST Framework
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16. Make it Easy – Defaulting people into savings programs
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Opt-in Opt-out
20%
5.9% 2%
98%

17. Make It Easy - Automating Energy Savings
• Estimated Savings of 4.5%-5% of
annual household gas use
– compared to households with
programmable timers, room
thermostats and TRVs
• Auto-learning algorithm can save
another 2.8%!
• Make it Easy!

18. Make it Attractive - Framing
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19. Make it Social
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It would take a price increase of 70%
to generate the same savings!

20. Make it Social – Set Goals and Public Commitments
• Encourage people to set energy saving goals
• More effective if the goal is publicly visible
– Online list of participants
• More effective if users set realistic goals of about 10-15%
• Goal setting can produce savings of 10%
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21. Make it Timely
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22. Make It Timely– Instant Feedback
Average Savings of 3% Average Savings of 5% - 7%

23. 23
Encouraging the Installation of
Energy Efficient Measures &
The Purchase of Energy
Efficient Appliances

24. • Quick Home Energy Check-ups
• 1 Hour Free Check-up
• Offered CFL’s, Aerators, Efficient – flow,
shower heads, Water Tank Heat Wraps
• Save between 2.7% and 5.5% of energy
• Training of auditors also effective
• Phone-based Audits
• “Gaps add up, it’s like having a football
sizes hole in your wall”
• Homes who received call from trained
auditors twice as likely to claim a rebate
(grant)
• No difference in actual energy savings!
How can we prompt more homeowners to take action?
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25. • CBSM approach in North Carolina
• Treatment included the following:
Instant rebates on lightbulbs
In-store signage for a week before one-day event
Flyers placed in customers bags for a week before
event
Promotion at home energy show
Direct mail postcards to homes within 10-mile
radius
Email notifications to utility customers
Sticky notes placed on locally delivered
newspapers
• Results: Sales increased by 896%!
However, no statistically significant difference in
energy use between control and treatment homes
Are community based social marketing approaches more effective?
25 www.seai.ie

26. • Similar to Warmer Homes
• 23,500 robo-calls
• 15,000 door hangers
• 7,000 home-visits
• Sign-up assistance events
• Control group: 1% completed
weatherization rate
• Treatment group: 6% completed
weatherization rate
Encouraging Applications to a Free Weatherization Program
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27. • Adding lifetime costs or 5 year running cost very popular
• Medium effect sizes in lab experiments
• Very small effect sizes in field trials
Hard to implement/measure
More “noise”
• Bonus/Malus and Subsidy systems can have
unintended consequences
Encourage purchase of bigger appliances
• Need more work on CBSM methods and
alternative approaches
• Allcott finds stricter efficiency standards to be
more effective
Limits of Behavioural Science Approach
Encouraging Purchases of More Energy Efficient Appliances
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28. Encouraging
Businesses to Reduce
their Energy Use
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29. Encouraging Businesses to Save Energy
+% ~7%+%
~7%

30. • Control: No contact
• Treatment 1: Weekly emails with actionable
energy tips and inter-floor competition results
• Treatment 2: Weekly emails with actionable
energy tips and inter-floor competition results
and a weekly assigned energy champion for
each floor
• Results:
Treatment 1 floors: 5% reduction in energy
use
Treatment 2 floors: 14% reduction in energy
use
Flooring the Competition…
30 www.seai.ie

31. What Works for Changing
Transport Behaviour
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32. Eco-driving
• Company employees encouraged to save fuel
– Control: No reward for using less fuel
– T1: Voucher for successfully using less fuel
– T2: Financial reward for using less fuel
• Results:
– No Savings until all driver received eco-driving training
– After receiving training those receiving vouchers reduced their use
by 5%
– Effect dissipated after 6 months
• Similar results found for airline pilots
• A second study found that setting managerial targets and providing
training to employees can reduce fuel use by 7%.
32 www.seai.ie

33. Smarter Travel Towns
• 3 towns in the UK took part in a community based modal shift program
• The program included:
– Personal Travel Planning
– Travel awareness campaigns
– Promotion of walking and cycling
– Public transport marketing
• Results:
– Car journeys decreased 9%
– Bus journeys increased 10-22%
– Cycling journeys increased 26-30%
– Walking increased 10-13%
• Smaller but similar results seen in Ireland
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34. The Effectiveness of School
Based Programs in Changing
Energy Behaviour
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35. • Classroom based education on energy, energy saving
tips, and the environment
Children learn in school  Save energy at
home/Encourage parents to save energy
• Very few controlled studies
• Many programs designed with aim of “changing attitudes”
rather than behaviour
• Understudied and underdeveloped
Two Main Strands of Research in this Area
• Saving energy in university accommodation
Often used to test impact of behaviour change
interventions in absence of direct financial incentives to
save energy
• Number of controlled studies
Sample sizes often small
Follow-up periods often short
• Savings of up to 22%
Based on small samples…
35 www.seai.ie

36. Example of Best in Class Evaluation
• Part of a wider Competition styled intervention
called the “10% energy challenge” in Singapore
– Road shows, media events, and sent
households information kits on energy-
saving tips to raise public awareness
• Intervention included:
– energy education and energy saving tips to
schoolchildren.
– Students were encouraged to share these
tips at home with their parents and were
motivated to try to save 10% of their current
energy use with the chance to win prizes
• Energy savings were assessed from students
who brought in energy bills as well as accessing
energy meter data for 6,631 dwellings
• Treatment effect of 1.6% additional energy
savings
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37. 37
What’s missing?
Recommendations for Future Research

38. Some Comments on Energy Behaviour Research
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Too much emphasis More research needed More research needed
More research needed More research needed Utilise Meter Data and
Counterfactual Impact Evaluation

39. Evaluating Behavioural Energy Saving Programs
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40. Evaluating Energy Saving Programs – Best Practice
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41. Evaluating Energy Saving Programs – Other Options
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42. Thank you!
Behavioural Research
Experimental Design
Psychology/Carbon Mgmt.
Email: Andrew.OCallaghan@seai.ie
Karl Purcell Marek Bohacek Andrew O'Callaghan
Behavioural Problem Diagnosis
Experiment Implementation
Behavioural Science
Email: Karl.Purcell@seai.ie
Data Modelling
Language Programming
Psychology/Neuroscience
Email: Mark.Bohacek@seai.ie
Phil Hemmingway
Research and Development
Program Manager
Research Evaluation
Email: Phil.Hemmingway@seai.ie