Simple interventions can correct misperceptions of home energy use

Tyler Marghetis (), Shahzeen Z. Attari and David Landy
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Tyler Marghetis: O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Bloomington
Shahzeen Z. Attari: O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Bloomington
David Landy: Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington

Nature Energy, 2019, vol. 4, issue 10, 874-881

Abstract: Abstract Public estimates of energy use suffer from severe biases. Failure to correct these may hinder efforts to conserve energy and undermine support for evidence-based policies. Here we present a randomized online experiment that showed that home energy perceptions can be improved. We tested two simple, potentially scalable interventions: providing numerical information (in watt-hours) about extremes of energy use and providing an explicit heuristic that addressed a common misperception. Both succeeded in improving numerical estimates of energy use, but in different ways. Numerical information about extremes primarily improved the use of the watt-hours response scale, while the heuristic improved underlying understanding of relative energy use. As a result, only the heuristic significantly benefitted judgements about energy-conserving behaviours. Because understanding of energy use also predicted self-reported energy-conservation behaviour, belief in climate change, and support for climate policies, targeting energy misperceptions may have the potential to shape individual behaviour and national policy support.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41560-019-0467-2

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