Symposium Helmholtz Alliance Energy-Trans
The reduction in electricity consumption by private households is an important factor in the process of enhancing the sustainability of energy infrastructures. With the arrival of new technologies like smart meters the question arises how information instruments may be designed to motivate and support consumers in their saving efforts and how the gap between intention and action may be bridged. An example of what is possible is provided by a web portal created by one of the projects of the research field user behavior and demand management of the Helmholtz-Alliance Energy-Trans.
The information architecture of the web portal was designed against the backdrop of a stage model of self-regulated behavioral change. Users are guided in their migration through the stages by the way information is structured. To address the gap between intention and action, the focus is on the support of the implementation of planned behavior. Apart from consumption feedback, the user is presented with saving tips and information concerning their implementation. The user is asked to commit to the tips he/she wants to try. After committing, every fortnight messages are sent and the user is able to give feedback about his/her status of implementation. A black board shows all committed tips with their implementation status.
In an ongoing study conducted in a neighborhood of new housings interaction with the portal is analyzed and the effects of portal usage on consumption are evaluated. Preliminary results show that within the framework of a general linear model with 12 baseline and 12 treatment phase monthly consumption values as dependent variables, commitment-to-saving-tips (yes, no) as grouping factor, study phase (baseline, treatment) and month-of-year (Jan .. Dec) as repeated measurement factors, and size-of-household and time-spent-in-portal as covariates, size-of-household, month, the interaction between month and size-of-household, and the interaction between commitment and study phase attained significance (size-of-household: F(1,32)=11.8, p<0.005, month: Hotelling’s T2(11,22)=1.18, p<0.05, month by size-of-household: T2(11,22)=1.68, p<0.01, commitment by study phase: T2(1,32)=0.18, p<0.025). Compared with the baseline phase, households with commitments consumed less electricity in the treatment phase, while households without commitments consumed more. The result was strengthened, when the commitment by study phase interaction was replaced by the commitments-completely-implemented by study phase interaction (T2(1,32)=0.23, p<0.01). This shows that techniques inducing commitment to action and guiding towards implementation of the action plan are effective in producing real savings of electricity.
