Tools- of Changes

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Feedback, Incentives and Competition in Reducing Energy Consumption in Student Accommodation.

A competition with no prizes reduced students’ energy used more than a competition with prizes and more than feedback only.

The authors evaluated the use of feedback, incentives and competition to reduce utility consumption within student accommodation. They used a quasi-experimental design across six buildings divided into four groups: Control, Feedback-only, Competition Without Prizes and Competition With Prizes. They took a longitudinal approach, examining energy usage across multiple years to control for external factors such as occupancy fluctuations and seasonal effects. They found that the feedback, contrary to expectations, increased energy consumption in certain accommodation, possibly due to rebound effects or moral licensing. The competition without prizes reduced energy usage, highlighting the power of intrinsic motivation and social comparison. The competition with prizes showed no significant effect, suggesting that extrinsic rewards might undermine the intrinsic motivation to save energy.