Tools- of Changes

Rank Ordering Information on Energy Use Can Promote Energy-Conserving Behavior

Providing a rank ordering of the energy consumption of household appliances and the savings from energy-conserving behaviors was the only one of three interventions that led to behavior changes in energy conservation in a Chinese RCT.

Widespread estimation bias of household energy use and savings hinders practical behavioral intervention efforts. Through a national survey in China, the authors found that residents overestimated household energy use and savings, overvalued low-energy activities, and undervalued high-energy ones. To bridge this cognitive gap, they conducted a randomized controlled experiment comparing three scalable intervention approaches: (1) providing numerical data on the energy consumption of household appliances and the savings from energy-conserving behaviors, (2) offering rank ordering information on these metrics, and (3) combining both types of information. All three improved residents’ judgments about energy-conserving behaviors, but only the rank ordering information led to actual behavioral changes in energy conservation.