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Nudging energy efficiency audits: Evidence from a field experiment

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  • Gillingham, Kenneth
  • Tsvetanov, Tsvetan

Abstract

This paper uses a randomized field experiment to test how information provision leveraging social norms, salience, and a personal touch can serve as a nudge to influence the uptake of residential energy audits. Our results show that a low-cost carefully-crafted notecard can increase the probability of a household to follow through with an already scheduled audit by 1.1 percentage points on a given day. The effect is very similar across individuals with different political views, but households in rural areas display a substantially greater effect than those in urban areas. Our findings have important managerial and policy implications, as they suggest a cost-effective nudge for increasing energy audit uptake and voluntary energy efficiency adoption.

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  • Gillingham, Kenneth & Tsvetanov, Tsvetan, 2018. "Nudging energy efficiency audits: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 303-316.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:90:y:2018:i:c:p:303-316
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2018.06.009
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    1. Henningsen, Geraldine & Wiese, Catharina, 2019. "Do Household Characteristics Really Matter? A Meta-Analysis on the Determinants of Households’ Energy-Efficiency Investments," MPRA Paper 101701, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Chlond, Bettina & Goeschl, Timo & Kesternich, Martin, 2022. "More money or better procedures? Evidence from an energy efficiency assistance program," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Huaccha, Gissell, 2023. "Regional persistence of the energy efficiency gap: Evidence from England and Wales," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    4. Bettina Chlond & Timo Goeschl & Martin Kesternich, 2022. "More Money or Better Procedures? Evidence from an Energy Efficiency Assistance Program," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202225, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    5. Kiso, Takahiko & Chan, H. Ron & Arino, Yosuke, 2022. "Contrasting effects of electricity prices on retrofit and new-build installations of solar PV: Fukushima as a natural experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    6. Farhidi, Faraz & Khiabani, Vahid, 2021. "The impact of social norms on cross-state energy regime changes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    7. Brewer, Dylan, 2023. "Household responses to winter heating costs: Implications for energy pricing policies and demand-side alternatives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    8. Chaudhuri, Kausik & Huaccha, Gissell, 2023. "Who bears the energy cost? Local income deprivation and the household energy efficiency gap," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    9. Chakravarty, Sujoy & Mishra, Rajan, 2019. "Using social norms to reduce paper waste: Results from a field experiment in the Indian Information Technology sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Alexandra E. Hill & Jesse Burkhardt, 2021. "Peers in the Field: The Role of Ability and Gender in Peer Effects among Agricultural Workers," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 790-811, May.
    11. Loureiro, Maria & Labandeira, Xavier, 2019. "Exploring Energy Use in Retail Stores: A Field Experiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(S1).
    12. Singhal, Puja & Pahle, Michael & Kalkuhl, Matthias & Levesque, Antoine & Sommer, Stephan & Berneiser, Jessica, 2022. "Beyond good faith: Why evidence-based policy is necessary to decarbonize buildings cost-effectively in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    13. Bruno Lanz and Evert Reins, 2021. "Asymmetric Information on the Market for Energy Efficiency: Insights from the Credence Goods Literature," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    14. Mehdi Bensouda & Mimoun Benali, 2022. "Behavioral Barriers to Energy Efficiency and Policy Interventions: A Survey of the Literature," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(6), pages 305-310, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Residential energy efficiency; Home energy audits; Non-price interventions; Information provision; Social norms; Field experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

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