Kevin Burchell

Is social norms marketing effective? A case study in domestic electricity consumption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present details of a large-scale experiment that evaluated the impact of communicating two types of feedback to householders regarding their domestic electricity consumption: feedback on their own consumption and feedback of both their own consumption and that of others in their locality. Design/methodology/approach – Digital technologies were used to automatically measure and communicate the electricity consumption of 316 UK residents for a period of 16 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: one involving no feedback; one involving feedback about a households own usage, and one involving a households own usage plus social norms feedback (the average consumption of others in the locality). At the end of the study, a selection of participants took part in interviews or focus groups. Findings – Both types of feedback (individual and individual-plus-social-norms) led to reductions in consumption of about 3 per cent. Thos...

Energy Consumption Feedback: Engagement by Design

This paper reports two energy feedback studies and explores the role of design in increasing householder engagement with energy feedback. The paper discusses a range of design issues that arise when developing an energy feedback system. It argues 1) that it is important to provide feedback in terms of activities rather than energy units, which have little relevance to householders, and 2) that emphasising the avoidance of waste could help to make energy consumption visible and prompt changes in energy consuming behaviours.