Journal
ENERGY ECONOMICS
Volume 68, Issue -, Pages 215-227Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2017.09.004
Keywords
Energy; Conservation behavior; Information strategies; Energy feedback; Field experiment; Health information; Developing country
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [NTS-1257189, CNS-050938]
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Little is known about the effectiveness of information strategies on energy conservation in developing countries. In this study, we conduct a field experiment in an apartment complex in India to test how information about electricity usage impacts the electricity consumption of urban middle class households. Our results, based on fifteen-minute electricity readings over an academic year, show that non-monetary messages that framed electricity consumption in terms of environmental and health impacts were more effective than messages emphasizing the monetary savings of reducing electricity consumption. Households in the environmental/health group accessed the online energy-monitoring dashboard more frequently and reduced their electricity usage by 18.4% relative to the control group. Households in the monetary group did not significantly alter their usage. These results about revealed preferences are contrasted with stated preferences disclosed in a survey of urban Indians who describe money, not health, as the main motivation for energy conservation. Our findings have important implications for the development non-monetary strategies for energy conservation in developing countries. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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