Consumer Behavior and Energy Conservation: A Policy-Oriented Experimental Field Study on the Effectiveness of Behavioral Interventions Promoting Residential Energy Conservation

I Theoretical Considerations.- 1. The Need for Energy Conservation: Introduction to Theme and Background of This Study.- 1.1 energy transition.- 1.1.1 Coal.- 1.1.2 Nuclear energy.- 1.1.3 Renewable sources.- 1.1.4 Conservation.- 1.2 The importance of energy behavior in understanding energy consumption.- 1.3 Energy conservation and the behavioral sciences.- 1.4 Specification of research problems.- Notes.- 2. Consumer Attitudes, Consumer Behavior and Energy Conservation: A Behavioral Science Perspective.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Energy consumption as a commons dilemma: micromotives and macroconsequences.- 2.2.1 Social traps.- 2.2.2 Prisoners Dilemma.- 2.2.3 The logic of collective action.- 2.2.4 Solutions to social traps.- 2.3 Personal correlates of energy conserving behavior.- 2.3.1 General energy attitudes and value orientations.- 2.3.2 Specific energy conservation attitudes.- 2.3.3 Energy knowledge.- 2.3.4 Lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics.- Notes.- 3. Behavioral Interventions for Promoting Consumer Energy Conservation.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Antecedent and consequence behavioral strategies: a general framework.- 3.2.1 Energy conservation information and prompts.- 3.2.2 Energy conservation modeling.- 3.2.3 Energy consumption feedback.- 3.2.4 Self-monitoring of energy consumption.- 3.2.5 Energy conservation incentives.- 3.3 Behavioral experiments in energy conservation: a review and critique.- 3.3.1 Antecedent strategies and residential energy conservation.- 3.3.1.1 Information.- 3.3.1.2 Modeling.- 3.3.2 Consequence strategies and residential energy conservation.- 3.3.2.1 Feedback.- 3.3.2.2 Self-monitoring.- 3.3.2.3 Monetary incentives.- 3.3.3 Conclusions and some critical notions.- Notes.- 4. Guidelines for This Study: Selected Behavioral Interventions, Design Requirements and Research Hypotheses.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Selected behavioral interventions and design requirements.- 4.2.1 Behavioral interventions to be tested experimentally: information, feedback, and selfmonitoring.- 4.2.2 Design requirements.- 4.3 Research hypotheses.- 4.3.1 Specific and general energy attitudes.- 4.3.2 Energy knowledge.- 4.3.3 Effectiveness of information, feedback, and self-monitoring.- 4.3.4 Specific aspects of information, feedback, and self-monitoring.- Notes.- II Research Design.- 5. Experimental Design.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Research settings and subjects.- 5.3 Experimental design and intervention strategies.- 5.3.1 Information.- 5.3.2 Feedback.- 5.3.2.1 Correction factors natural gas.- 5.3.2.2 Correction factors electricity.- 5.3.3 Self-monitoring.- 5.4 Recruitment of subjects and pre-experimental interviews.- 5.4.1 Recruitment of subjects.- 5.4.2 Response.- 5.4.3 Willingness to agree to a second interview and permission to obtain energy consumption rates.- 5.4.4 A demographic profile of subjects.- 5.4.5 Matching results.- 5.5 Response to the post-experimental survey.- 5.6 Post-experimental consumption data.- 5.7 Overview of observations in various study phases.- 5.8 Measurement of key-concepts.- 5.8.1 The pre-experimental questionnaire.- 5.8.2 The post-experimental questionnaire.- 5.9 Graphic representation of research variables.- Notes.- III Results.- 6. Energy Attitudes, Social Norms and Intention to Conserve Energy: Results of the Pre-Experimental. Survey.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Explaining the intention to conserve energy by specific and general attitudes.- 6.2.1 The Fishbein model.- 6.2.2 Raw data on the different components of the Fishbein model.- 6.2.2.1 Measurement format.- 6.2.2.2 Beliefs about and evaluations of consequences of household energy conservation (Bi and Ei).- 6.2.2.3 Normative beliefs about household energy conservation and motivation to comply (NBi and MCi).- 6.2.2.4. Direct measurement of the attitude toward household energy conservation (Aact) and social norms (SN).- 6.2.2.5 Behavioral intention to conserve energy in the household (BI).- 6.2.3 Explaining Aact and SN by B E and NB MC.- 6.2.4 The General Concern with Energy Scarcity Scale (GOES).- 6.2.5 Relative explanatory power of specific and general energy attitudes.- 6.2.6 Attitudinal vs. normative factors.- 6.2.7 Beliefs and evaluations of personal and social consequences of household energy conservation.- 6.3 Energy knowledge.- 6.4 Attitudes related to the experimental conditions.- 6.5 Sociodemographic correlates.- 6.6 Attitudes toward other energy issues.- 6.7 Summary.- Notes.- 7. Experimental Results.- 7.1 introduction.- 7.2 Consumption data preparation.- 7.2.1 Standardized consumption.- 7.2.2 Weighted consumption.- 7.2.3 Relative 198081 consumption.- 7.3 Baseline consumption in research locations.- 7.4 Effectiveness of experimental conditions.- 7.5 Experimental results and specific and general energy attitudes.- 7.5.1 Energy consumption and specific and general energy attitudes.- 7.5.2 Effectiveness of experimental conditions and attitudes toward energy conservation.- 7.6 Experimental results and energy behavior change.- 7.6.1 Energy behavior change in experimental period.- 7.6.2 Energy behavior change and specific and general energy attitudes.- 7.7 Demographics.- 7.8 Summary.- Notes.- 8. Cognitive Aspects of Experimental Interventions.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Salience of experimental interventions.- 8.3 Pre-experimental needs for conservation information, feedback and self-monitoring, and experimental results.- 8.4 Cognitive aspects of conservation information.- 8.4.1 Energy conservation booklet: interest and evaluation.- 8.4.2 Effectiveness of energy conservation booklet.- 8.5 Cognitive aspects of feedback.- 8.5.1 Biweekly and monthly energy consumption feedback: interest and evaluation.- 8.5.2 Subjective understanding of feedback and effectiveness of feedback.- 8.5.3 Perceived success of conservation efforts and effectiveness of feedback.- 8.6 Cognitive aspects of self-monitoring.- 8.6.1 Some facts about response to self-monitoring request.- 8.6.2 Self-monotoring of energy usage: interest and evaluation.- 8.6.3 Subjective understanding of self-monitoring.- 8.6.4 Perceived success of conservation efforts and effectiveness of self-monitoring.- 8.7 Energy knowledge change.- 8.8 Energy attitude change.- 8.9 Comfort experiences.- 8.10 Attitudes toward large-scale implementation of experimental interventions.- 8.11 Demographics.- 8.12 Summary.- Notes.- IV Conclusions.- 9. Conclusions, Policy Implications, and Research Recommendations.- 10. Summary.- References.- Author Index.- About the author.