People-Centered Initiatives for Increasing Energy Savings Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez John A. “Skip” Laitner People-Centered Initiatives for Increasing Energy Savings Editors: Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez* John A. “Skip” Laitner† November 2010 ©American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy 529 14th Street, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20045 Phone: 202-507-4000, Fax: 202-429-2248, www.aceee.org * Formerly with ACEEE. Presently with University of Colorado, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute † American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy CONTENTS Foreword iii Acknowledgments iv About ACEEE v Introduction: An Opening Context for People-Centered Insights 1 John A. “Skip” Laitner and Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez Section 1: The Social and Behavior Wedge Household Actions Can Provide a Behavioral Wedge to Rapidly Reduce U.S. Carbon 9 Emissions Thomas Dietz, Gerald T. Gardner, Jonathan Gilligan, Paul C. Stern, and Michael P. Vandenbergh Examining the Scale of the Behavior Energy Efficiency Continuum 20 John A. “Skip” Laitner and Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez A 30% Reduction in Electricity Use Is Not Only Possible but Actually Occurred in Juneau, 32 Alaska Alan Meier Section 2: Behavior-Savvy Policy Adding a Behavioral Dimension to Residential Construction and Retrofit Policies 43 Marilyn A. Brown, Jess Chandler, Melissa V. Lapsa, and Moonis Ally Towards a Policy of Progressive Efficiency 60 Jeffrey Harris, Rick Diamond, Carl Blumstein, Chris Calwell, Maithili Iyer, Christopher Payne, and Hans-Paul Siderius Rebound, Technology, and People: Mitigating the Rebound Effect with Energy-Resource 80 Management and People-Centered Initiatives Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez and John A. “Skip” Laitner Section 3: Diversity in Energy Consumption and Energy Beliefs Saving Energy Is a Value Shared by All Americans: Results of a Global Warming Audience 99 Segmentation Analysis Edward Maibach, Connie Roser-Renouf, Karen Akerlof, Anthony Leiserowitz, and Matthew Nisbet Segmentation in Practice 113 Linda Dethman, Phil Degens, and Sarah Castor The “Average American” Unmasked: Social Structure and Differences in Household Energy 133 Use and Carbon Emissions Loren Lutzenhiser and Sylvia Bender Section 4: Transportation Structures and Behavior Car Buyers and Fuel Economy? 147 Thomas S. Turrentine and Kenneth S. Kurani Applying Behavioral Economics Concepts in Designing Usage-Based Car Insurance Products 166 Allen Greenberg Section 5: Household Energy Consumption and Energy Management The Technological and Human Dimensions of Residential Feedback: An Introduction to the 186 Broad Range of Today’s Feedback Strategies Kat Donnelly Inside the Black Box: Household Response to Feedback 210 Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez Personal Carbon Budgets: Helping Individuals to Live in a Carbon Constrained World 224 Yael Parag and Deborah Strickland i Section 6: Social Norms and Community Response Influencing the Mainstream: How Green Planned Communities Can Shape Social Behaviors 239 and Address Climate Change Laura Mamo and Jennifer Fosket Making Energy Conservation the Norm 251 P. Wesley Schultz Section 7: Utilities, Evaluation and Behavior Change Strategies Adding a Behavioral Dimension to Utility Policies that Promote Residential Efficiency 263 Marilyn A. Brown, Jess Chandler, and Melissa V. Lapsa A Conceptual Framework for Integrating Behavior and Behavioral Change in the Energy 278 Efficiency Program Cycle Edward Vine Energy Efficiency: Choice Sets, Market Transformation, and Innovation 288 Carl Blumstein, Seymour Goldstone, and Loren Lutzenhiser Behavioral Change Strategies That Work: A Review and Analysis of Field Experiments 299 Targeting Residential Energy Use Behavior K. H. Tiedemann Conclusions and Insights 317 Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez and John A. “Skip” Laitner Author Biographies 332 ii FOREWORD: THE CRITICAL ROLE OF PEOPLE-CENTERED INITIATIVES There is an undeniable and growing interest in understanding the human dimensions of energy use, energy efficiency, and energy conservation. Indeed, the evidence suggests an amazing variety of social influences that drive new innovations and behaviors that, in turn, significantly change the patterns of technology adoption and energy consumption. For example, in a talk at the GridWise Global Forum about the future of clean energy, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu noted: “It’s not all high-tech stuff. We are also funding the human factor. We want to know how people think about and use energy.” Past assessments by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), by well- known researchers like Tom Dietz, Gerald Gardner, Loren Lutzenhiser, and Paul Stern, and by the co- editors of this volume, all suggest that understanding and shaping behaviors can provide a significant boost in the more efficient use of all energy resources. Indeed, internal discussions within ACEEE indicate that “the behavioral resource” in all of its many forms might provide about a 25% efficiency gain above normal productivity improvements should we choose to understand and develop that resource. In this respect, policymakers and researchers increasingly recognize the importance of addressing behavioral change to reduce costly energy production and consumption and carbon emissions as most energy-efficient technologies require proper human interaction to achieve their promised savings. Despite the building interest in the social and behavioral dimensions of energy consumption, there remains a large gap in the available information that might help policymakers and program managers more effectively integrate “people-centered insights and initiatives” into current efforts to accelerate cost-effective energy savings. It is for that reason that ACEEE chose to invest time and effort in this volume as part of efforts to organize the third Behavior, Energy and Climate Change conference held November 15–18, 2009 in Washington, D.C. The original idea came from Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez, who along with Skip Laitner, agreed to organize this volume as an initial contribution that might help fill that void. The nearly three dozen authors have done yeoman-like work in making this information available. At the same time, we recognize that the many variations on a theme in this volume may or may not reflect how ACEEE itself might view the research and the resulting recommendations. As a result, we offer this book as an effort to open up the discussion by providing a useful resource that we hope will be a highly valuable reference to help guide future research on this critically important topic. Steven Nadel, Executive Director American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book has a very rich intellectual history. For example, the collaboration and hard questions would not have been possible without the feedback, financial support, and commitment of many individuals involved in the design, development, and general success of the very first Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference. In that regard we must thank all of the members of the BECC Advisory Committee as well as all of the organizations who generously sponsored the first- ever conference in 2007. Without their advice and financial support, the now annual BECC conference would not have been the success that it has become. Perhaps more critically, this legacy extends through its successor events, now culminating in the fourth annual BECC being convened November 14–17, 2010 in Sacramento, California (for more information on this event, see www.BECCconference.org). At the same time, we would like to extend our deep appreciation to all of the individual chapter contributors to this volume. Without their willingness to pitch in, and without their willingness to lend their many insights and recommendations, this book would have been substantially diminished; we certainly could not have carried out this effort on our own. Yet, there are several key individuals who deserve a special note of thanks. They are among those who helped generate the momentum that enabled such a project as this to be conceived and carried. We begin in that regard with Linda Schuck as the prime mover who got BECC off the ground in 2007; and in doing so, helped all of us build the momentum. We also include our colleague Jerry Dion for his own recognition of the many critical issues reflected in this volume, and his ground-breaking efforts that further enabled the participation of the U.S. Department of Energy in this direction. And we would like to especially acknowledge the many and varied contributions of Paul Stern and Loren Lutzenhiser for their long- standing commitment to research on these issues during a very long hiatus when such perspectives had so little support. Finally, we would like to thank David Holzman whose early copy editing helped us get this book off the ground, and Renee Nida whose patience and hard work to help us massage this volume into a publishable shape aided us in making this book available in a timely way. In short, our heartfelt thanks to everyone. Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez John A. “Skip” Laitner iv ABOUT ACEEE The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) is a nonprofit research organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection. For more information, see www.aceee.org. ACEEE fulfills its mission by: • Conducting in-depth technical and policy assessments • Advising businesses, policymakers, and program managers • Working collaboratively with businesses, public interest groups,