Research Projects

Residential and commercial buildings collectively account for more than two-thirds of electricity usage. While current research indicates that behavioral changes induced by detailed feedback to consumers about their energy usage can greatly reduce residential energy consumption, more rigorous, long-term studies are required to determine how energy consumption feedback can be used as an effective tool for energy conservation. The proposed study will undertake an experimental implementation of electricity monitoring technologies, private real-time information displays, public information posting, and incentive programs in a large sample group of graduate student family apartments at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Study results will illuminate whether and to what extent, real-time, easily accessible energy usage information and financial or social (e.g., normative, social recognition) incentives result in significant reductions in energy consumption. Ultimately, findings of the proposed research will help ARB and its partners understand how to communicate real-time usage information to residential customers in a manner that leverages positive encouragement and/or social recognition, as well as financial motivations, to foster conservation and GHG emissions reductions.