Originally posted by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation

Luskin Scholar Magali Delmas and fellow researchers have completed the first phase of a study that aims to examine how an inexpensive and quickly deployable technology can be leveraged to affect energy conservation among building residents. The project implements energy and resource monitoring technologies, information postings, and incentive programs in a sample group of 65 rooms in UCLA residence halls. The objective is to determine if and to what extent, real-time and easily accessible information on energy usage and financial or other incentives result in significant reductions in energy consumption. The lessons learned will be generalized for much of the U.S. market.

Delmas will soon release her report “Electric Usage and Public and Private Incentives: A Pilot Project.” This report describes results from the pilot study that Delmas conducted in the Spring of 2010. One key finding is that students seemed responsive -- at least in the short term -- to the display of information about their energy usage. This shows that monitoring and display infrastructure intrigued and engaged the students to take action. However it is unclear whether students would continue to engage in such actions in the longer term. Furthermore, students were not informed about the most effective way to reduce their energy use and seemed to focus on relatively simple solutions, such as turning off the lights, rather than on more effective strategies (such as changing the settings of their HVAC system). Therefore, for the next phase of the study researchers will take a long term approach and include more information about energy reduction strategies. This second phase of the study will therefore provide better information on specific actions on how to reduce energy use as well as specific treatments providing pressures and incentives.
 

Published: Wednesday, October 13, 2010

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