Sidebar: Occupant Engagement: Where Design Meets Performance
According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficienct Economy (ACEEE), when utilities provide visually engaging feedback to residential customers, the feedback alone can have a measurable overall effect on energy demand. However, in their paper “Visible and Concrete Savings: Case Studies of Effective Behavioral Approaches to Improving Customer Energy Efficiency,” ACEEE researchers point out that third-party studies of these programs show wildly varying results.
Research on the effects of feedback on energy use is relatively new, so the precise reasons for this variation are unknown, and comparing a few small pilot studies is unlikely to yield reliable data. However, the researchers point to several promising features of the most effective utility feedback programs:
• They made energy data more visible and more visually and emotionally engaging.
• They reminded customers to save energy.
• They leveraged social norms (comparing energy use with that of neighbors).
• They integrated feedback into existing social media networks.
• They called attention to non-financial motivations, such as personal values.
Feedback alone can have benefits, but the quality and context of the feedback determine how effective and long-term the results will be.
