Boosting Citizens Towards Reduced Energy Consumption: A Field Experiment in the Principality of Monaco

Nathalie Lazaric and Mira Toumi

No 2021-17, GREDEG Working Papers from Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France

Abstract: We investigate the complementarity between diverse behavioral tools called "boosts" (through information provision) and "goal setting" (ambitious or modest goals) in a field experiment in the Principality of Monaco which ran from December 2018 to May 2019. We collected data from 77 households in four groups: ambitious energy reduction goal combined with information (treatment 1), modest energy reduction goal combined with information (treatment 2), information only (treatment 3) and a control group (treatment 4). Treatments 1 and 2 increase the chances towards reduced energy consumption. We show that a modest but more realistic energy saving goal generates better energy conservation performance when combined with “boosts” (treatment 2). We explore the link between behavioral strategies and the household’s environmental concern in the context of the new ecological paradigm (NEP). The efficiency of the treatments depends heavily on the NEP profile. Households with a high NEP profile are more likely to reduce their electricity consumption whereas as those with a low NEP profile will not respond to behavioral interventions.

Keywords: Boost; nudges; goal setting; energy consumption; field experiment; environmental profile (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D04 D83 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2021-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-ene, nep-env and nep-exp
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gre:wpaper:2021-17

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