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

UW-Whitewater Replace with more efficient technology Reduce usage through automated systems Don’t rely on the human to do much, if anything Conventional approach

UW-Whitewater 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

UW-Whitewater Multiple potential drivers for behavior:  Intrinsic values  Economic incentives  Social and peer pressure  Regulatory, penalties Theory

UW-Whitewater New technology

UW-Whitewater Opened in Aug suites, 446 residents LEED Gold New residence hall

UW-Whitewater Meters

UW-Whitewater 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

UW-Whitewater

Preliminary data

UW-Whitewater 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

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

UW-Whitewater Significant logistical and technical support from UWW Residential Life and iCIT Acknowledgement