The Impact of Economic and Non-Economic Incentives to Induce Residential Demand Response—Findings from a Living Lab Experiment

Leandra Scharnhorst, Thorben Sandmeier, Armin Ardone and Wolf Fichtner
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Leandra Scharnhorst: Institute for Industrial Production (IIP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany
Thorben Sandmeier: Institute for Industrial Production (IIP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany
Armin Ardone: Institute for Industrial Production (IIP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany
Wolf Fichtner: Institute for Industrial Production (IIP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-24

Abstract: This study assesses the impact of economic and non-economic incentives to induce demand response in private households. The experiment was realized by a three-months residential phase in which two tenants lived in the Energy Smart Home Lab, an experimental lab with the equipment of a modern smart home. The tenants received calls to action (CtAs) on a regular basis, incentivized economically or by moral nudges with a social or environmental background. A mixed-methods approach, consisting of smart meter data analysis, a value scale assessment, surveys and interviews, assessed the tenants’ reactions on their energy consumption behavior towards the CtAs. The smart meter data shows that the tenants performed the majority of CtAs, revealing no significant difference between economic or non-economic incentives. Results from the value scale, the interviews and the surveys indicate that this behavior might be due to the tenants’ high tendency towards biospheric and altruistic values and a high self-efficacy. Furthermore, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a 100% home-office situation, suggesting a higher flexibility of the tenants. Although the results are not representative and need further experiments to be confirmed, the incentives show a promising potential to evoke residential demand response.

Keywords: technology acceptance; smart home; technology adoption; residential demand response; flexibility; (non)-economic incentives; energy consumption behavior; behavioral change; COVID-19 pandemic; living lab (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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