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Simple interventions can correct misperceptions of home energy use

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  • Tyler Marghetis

    (O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Bloomington
    Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington
    Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe)

  • Shahzeen Z. Attari

    (O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Bloomington)

  • David Landy

    (Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington
    Netflix)

Abstract

Public estimates of energy use suffer from severe biases. Failure to correct these may hinder efforts to conserve energy and undermine support for evidence-based policies. Here we present a randomized online experiment that showed that home energy perceptions can be improved. We tested two simple, potentially scalable interventions: providing numerical information (in watt-hours) about extremes of energy use and providing an explicit heuristic that addressed a common misperception. Both succeeded in improving numerical estimates of energy use, but in different ways. Numerical information about extremes primarily improved the use of the watt-hours response scale, while the heuristic improved underlying understanding of relative energy use. As a result, only the heuristic significantly benefitted judgements about energy-conserving behaviours. Because understanding of energy use also predicted self-reported energy-conservation behaviour, belief in climate change, and support for climate policies, targeting energy misperceptions may have the potential to shape individual behaviour and national policy support.

Suggested Citation

  • Tyler Marghetis & Shahzeen Z. Attari & David Landy, 2019. "Simple interventions can correct misperceptions of home energy use," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(10), pages 874-881, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:4:y:2019:i:10:d:10.1038_s41560-019-0467-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-019-0467-2
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    1. repec:cup:judgdm:v:15:y:2020:i:6:p:972-988 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Lagomarsino, Maria & van der Kam, Mart & Parra, David & Hahnel, Ulf J.J., 2022. "Do I need to charge right now? Tailored choice architecture design can increase preferences for electric vehicle smart charging," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    3. Chen, Si-Yuan & Xue, Meng-Tian & Wang, Zhao-Hua & Tian, Xin & Zhang, Bin, 2022. "Exploring pathways of phasing out clean heating subsidies for rural residential buildings in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    4. Ana Salomé García-Muñiz & María Rosalía Vicente, 2021. "The Effects of Informational Feedback on the Energy Consumption of Online Services: Some Evidence for the European Union," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-14, May.
    5. Mario Herberz & Tobias Brosch & Ulf J. J. Hahnel, 2020. "Kilo what? Default units increase value sensitivity in joint evaluations of energy efficiency," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 15(6), pages 972-988, November.
    6. Verma, Pramit & Kumari, Tanu & Raghubanshi, Akhilesh Singh, 2021. "Energy emissions, consumption and impact of urban households: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    7. Chad Zanocco & Tao Sun & Gregory Stelmach & June Flora & Ram Rajagopal & Hilary Boudet, 2022. "Assessing Californians’ awareness of their daily electricity use patterns," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(12), pages 1191-1199, December.
    8. Cranmer, Alexana & Broughel, Anna Ebers & Ericson, Jonathan & Goldberg, Mike & Dharni, Kira, 2023. "Getting to 30 GW by 2030: Visual preferences of coastal residents for offshore wind farms on the US East Coast," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    9. Casamassima, Alessia & Perdiguero Garcia, Jordi & Morone, Andrea, 2021. "Investigate the energy misperception for "Next Generation" in Italy: An online experiment," MPRA Paper 110637, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Al-Ubaydli, Omar & Cassidy, Alecia & Chatterjee, Anomitro & Khalifa, Ahmed & Price, Michael, 2023. "The power to conserve: a field experiment on electricity use in Qatar," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121048, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Gong, Yuanchao & Cai, Bo-feng & Sun, Yan, 2020. "Perceived fiscal subsidy predicts rural residential acceptance of clean heating: Evidence from an indoor-survey in a pilot city in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    12. Seth Wynes & Jiaying Zhao & Simon D. Donner, 2020. "How well do people understand the climate impact of individual actions?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 1521-1534, October.

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