IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/recore/v103y2015icp29-46.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Motivating metrics for household water-use feedback

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Ariane
  • Giurco, Damien
  • Mukheibir, Pierre

Abstract

Motivating more sustainable water consumption is important since population growth and climate change are placing increased pressures on water supplies in Australia and elsewhere. Smart water metering creates new possibilities for feedback of detailed water-use information to householders as a signal of potential opportunities to save water, and a number of recent feedback studies have shown water saving results. However, existing literature lacks an overview of the available options for the presentation of detailed household water-use information; and research into what households understand, and value and prefer in terms of feedback. This paper introduces a framework for the possibilities for feedback; and further explores dimensions of the framework via a detailed post-intervention evaluation of a recent smart water metering trial involving detailed end-use feedback to a sample of households in New South Wales, Australia. The householder evaluation survey and interviews investigate engagement with customised water-use metrics presented during the trial, and explore wider preferences for water-use feedback. Understanding how householders relate to different types of information has an important role to play in maximising household engagement and the potential for more detailed water-use feedback to guide household water management. Therefore the framework and evaluative research findings carry implications for future deployments of residential smart water metering involving feedback. Particularly, the high level of interest and engagement of many study householders with the detailed water-use information highlights important potential for feedback, and lends support to the business case for utilities to pursue smart water metering trials and roll-outs. However, with heterogeneity of customer preferences and responses, more carefully considered approaches to water-use feedback are advised (e.g. more judicious feedback design, and potentially the use of tailoring and/or customer segmentation) to facilitate a greater contribution towards more sustainable water consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Ariane & Giurco, Damien & Mukheibir, Pierre, 2015. "Motivating metrics for household water-use feedback," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 29-46.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:103:y:2015:i:c:p:29-46
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.05.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344915300057
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.05.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Willis, Rachelle M. & Stewart, Rodney A. & Panuwatwanich, Kriengsak & Jones, Sarah & Kyriakides, Andreas, 2010. "Alarming visual display monitors affecting shower end use water and energy conservation in Australian residential households," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1117-1127.
    2. Grafton, R. Quentin & Kompas, Tom & To, Hang & Ward, Michael B., 2009. "Residential Water Consumption: A Cross Country Analysis," Research Reports 94823, Australian National University, Environmental Economics Research Hub.
    3. Carragher, Byron J. & Stewart, Rodney A. & Beal, Cara D., 2012. "Quantifying the influence of residential water appliance efficiency on average day diurnal demand patterns at an end use level: A precursor to optimised water service infrastructure planning," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 81-90.
    4. Beal, C.D. & Flynn, J., 2015. "Toward the digital water age: Survey and case studies of Australian water utility smart-metering programs," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 29-37.
    5. Rathnayaka, K. & Maheepala, S. & Nawarathna, B. & George, B. & Malano, H. & Arora, M. & Roberts, P., 2014. "Factors affecting the variability of household water use in Melbourne, Australia," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 85-94.
    6. Vassileva, Iana & Odlare, Monica & Wallin, Fredrik & Dahlquist, Erik, 2012. "The impact of consumers’ feedback preferences on domestic electricity consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 575-582.
    7. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    8. David Whynes & Emma Frew & Jane Wolstenholme, 2005. "Willingness-to-Pay and Demand Curves: A Comparison of Results Obtained Using Different Elicitation Formats," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 369-386, December.
    9. Noah J. Goldstein & Robert B. Cialdini & Vladas Griskevicius, 2008. "A Room with a Viewpoint: Using Social Norms to Motivate Environmental Conservation in Hotels," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(3), pages 472-482, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jasiūnas, Žygimantas & Julião, Tiago & Cecílio, José & Carrilho da Graça, Guilherme & Ferreira, Pedro M., 2025. "A soft sensor to assess the energy performance of laundry washing machines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 383(C).
    2. Dexter V. L. Hunt & Zeerak Shahab, 2021. "Sustainable Water Use Practices: Understanding and Awareness of Masters Level Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-29, September.
    3. Rathnayaka, K. & Malano, H. & Arora, M. & George, B. & Maheepala, S. & Nawarathna, B., 2017. "Prediction of urban residential end-use water demands by integrating known and unknown water demand drivers at multiple scales I: Model development," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 117(PB), pages 85-92.
    4. Du, Limin & Guo, Jin & Wei, Chu, 2017. "Impact of information feedback on residential electricity demand in China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 324-334.
    5. Bhandari, Pratik & Creighton, Douglas & Gong, Jinzhe & Boyle, Carol & Law, Kris M.Y., 2023. "Evolution of cyber-physical-human water systems: Challenges and gaps," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arne K. Albrecht & Gianfranco Walsh & Simon Brach & Dwayne D. Gremler & Erica Herpen, 2017. "The influence of service employees and other customers on customer unfriendliness: a social norms perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 827-847, November.
    2. Han, Heesup & Hyun, Sunghyup Sean, 2018. "What influences water conservation and towel reuse practices of hotel guests?," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 87-97.
    3. Petschnig, Martin & Heidenreich, Sven & Spieth, Patrick, 2014. "Innovative alternatives take action – Investigating determinants of alternative fuel vehicle adoption," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 68-83.
    4. Johan Jansson, 2011. "Consumer eco‐innovation adoption: assessing attitudinal factors and perceived product characteristics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 192-210, March.
    5. Komatsu, Hidenori & Nishio, Ken-ichiro, 2015. "An experimental study on motivational change for electricity conservation by normative messages," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 35-43.
    6. Antonio Paone & Jean-Philippe Bacher, 2018. "The Impact of Building Occupant Behavior on Energy Efficiency and Methods to Influence It: A Review of the State of the Art," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-19, April.
    7. Sara Rafael Almeida & Joana Sousa Lourenco & Francois J. Dessart & Emanuele Ciriolo, 2017. "Insights from behavioural sciences to prevent and combat violence against women. Literature review," JRC Research Reports JRC103975, Joint Research Centre.
    8. António Cardoso & Amândio Silva & Manuel Sousa Pereira & Jorge Figueiredo & Isabel Oliveira, 2025. "Sustainable Consumption Intentions Among Portuguese University Students: A Multidimensional Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-25, August.
    9. Koo, A Mi & Kim, Ju-Hee & Yoo, Seung-Hoon, 2022. "Household willingness to pay for a smart water metering and monitoring system: The case of South Korea," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Hynes, Niki & Wilson, Juliette, 2016. "I do it, but don't tell anyone! Personal values, personal and social norms: Can social media play a role in changing pro-environmental behaviours?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 349-359.
    11. Heesup Han & Myong Jae Lee & Wansoo Kim, 2018. "Promoting towel reuse behaviour in guests: A water conservation management and environmental policy in the hotel industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1302-1312, December.
    12. Sebbane, M. & Costa, S., 2015. "Gaspillage alimentaire en restauration d’entreprise : une analyse qualitative des normes personnelles et sociales," Working Papers MoISA 201502, UMR MoISA : Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (social and nutritional sciences): CIHEAM-IAMM, CIRAD, INRAE, L'Institut Agro, Montpellier SupAgro, IRD - Montpellier, France.
    13. Simon, Françoise, 2016. "Consumer adoption of No Junk Mail stickers: An extended planned behavior model assessing the respective role of store flyer attachment and perceived intrusiveness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 12-21.
    14. Irina Cojuharenco & Gert Cornelissen & Natalia Karelaia, 2011. "One person in the battlefield is not a warrior: Self-construal, perceived ability to make a difference, and socially responsible behavior," Economics Working Papers 1292, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    15. Igor Popovic & Bart A. G. Bossink & Peter C. van der Sijde, 2019. "Factors Influencing Consumers’ Decision to Purchase Food in Environmentally Friendly Packaging: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go from Here?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-22, December.
    16. Casper, Jonathan M. & McCullough, Brian P. & Pfahl, Michael E., 2020. "Examining environmental fan engagement initiatives through values and norms with intercollegiate sport fans," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 348-360.
    17. Maxime Sebbane & Sandrine Costa, 2015. "Gaspillage alimentaire en restauration d’entreprise : une analyse qualitative des normes personnelles et sociales," Working Papers hal-01165737, HAL.
    18. Sigurdsson, Valdimar & Larsen, Nils Magne & Alemu, Mohammed Hussen & Gallogly, Joseph Karlton & Menon, R. G. Vishnu & Fagerstrøm, Asle, 2020. "Assisting sustainable food consumption: The effects of quality signals stemming from consumers and stores in online and physical grocery retailing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 458-471.
    19. Nauges, Céline & Wheeler, Sarah Ann, 2017. "The Complex Relationship Between Households' Climate Change Concerns and Their Water and Energy Mitigation Behaviour," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 87-94.
    20. Huijts, N.M.A. & De Groot, J.I.M. & Molin, E.J.E. & van Wee, B., 2013. "Intention to act towards a local hydrogen refueling facility: Moral considerations versus self-interest," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 63-74.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:103:y:2015:i:c:p:29-46. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kai Meng (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/resources-conservation-and-recycling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.