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The July 13 Flex Your Power newsletter reveals the results of a study on energy efficiency messaging by Professor Wesely Schultz of California State University San Marcos.  According to Schultz, “individuals tend to base their environmental decisions more on what they think is normal, than on what they think is simply ‘the right thing to do.’”  In his study, doorhangers were distributed to 1,200 homes, each containing one of five messages.  Four of the messages were “traditional ideas such as saving energy saves money, is socially or environmentally responsible, or is easy to do.”  

However, the fifth message was quite different.  Instead, “the fifth message compared the household’s energy use to average use in the neighborhood.”  After several weeks of monitoring electricity use, “researchers found that homes that received the fifth message achieved the greatest reductions in energy use, with high consumers using significantly less electricity after the campaign.” 

The lesson is that consumers are highly motivated by their sense of being normal–how they stack up to others.  Alone, energy efficiency messaging is not enough…a means to measure and compare is also needed for maximum results.  GreenQuest provides both a platform for messaging and comparisons of actual energy use.