Energy issues involve more than technology

To reverse an undesirable trend in the climate and energy area we need technological development, but also decisions, both political ones and those we make everyday. It’s here that we urgently need more knowledge about human behaviour.

In many areas we as consumers can readily see the consequences of our choices. At the grocery store we can compare prices and caloric contents, for instance. But as electricity consumers we get a bill once a month, with no connection to individual activities. What impact does an extra running of the washing machine or dishwasher have? What difference does it make to shower faster or turn off lights? If we could easily see the direct consequences, wouldn’t we be motivated to conserve more?

‘Right now there’s a great deal of interest from the industry to develop smart electricity meters to get consumers to save energy. But little is known about how such meters should be designed or whether it’s even the right way to go. Here our knowledge is highly interesting’, says Peter Juslin, professor of cognitive psychology, who is launching an applied research project this autumn at Uppsala University.

His research team is studying learning, feedback, and how people use available information, their own knowledge, and thinking as a basis for their behaviour. What can their research tell us about how a smart electricity meter might work? Would it be cost-effective? Basic research offers some basic knowledge, says Peter Juslin. For example, it’s not always advantageous to get feedback often and in detail, which is often the case in smart electricity meters.

‘Such a feedback system is not unproblematic. It’s not self-evident that our performance
would be better or that it would be the most cost-effective path to provide people with the knowledge they need to check their electricity consumption.’

In the worst case you get an incomprehensible system that triggers a pursuit that leads to a poor conception of what’s important. Or you quickly learn that the most important thing is to take short showers and lower the indoor temperature, and once you know that you lose interest. And what does the long-term market for smart electricity meters look like?

Applied research under controlled conditions is lacking in this field. The studies that have been done have been primarily about having people try a certain electricity meter and then studying how satisfied they are. But if their electricity consumption went down and if that was because of the electricity meter – and, if so, exactly what proportion – we get no answer. Nor do we know how smart meters work compared with other ways to provide electricity consumers with the means to understand and control the consequences of their electricity consumption.

This is where the new research project comes in, with researchers having subjects test various solutions under controlled conditions. The goal is to get an idea of what makes an electricity meter smart in the long run and to be able to compare it with other systems. Perhaps it’s just as effective to give direct instructions about how electricity consumption can be reduced? Or to train people quickly in translating behaviours into money? Another solution is based on simulating your own electricity consumption.

‘For instance, you can include some software in the purchase of a newly built house where the owners can simulate behaviours in a playful way until they’ve reached an understanding of the house’s electricity costs. One interesting possibility is to collaborate with experts on game design to make such programs effective and reasonably engaging to work with’, says Peter Juslin.

A major challenge, he points out, is to change people’s behaviour in the long term. Our human imagination is not adapted to the global consequences and long-term perspectives that prevail in environmental work. Our reason and rationality is strongly tied to “here and now”. Perhaps the fundamental problem is that electricity consumption is too cheap? A reasonable, though not especially popular, thought – because if it’s expensive our motivation to conserve grows. Another broad human driving force worth thinking about is that we want to do what others do.

‘It’s almost embarrassing to see research that shows how eager we are to do what other people do. We truly are flock animals’, says Peter Juslin with a smile.

He admits that the question of the energy of the future is merely one of several major challenges to society that at first glance seem primarily to be matters of medical and technological breakthroughs, but that ultimately are about us humans and what we are capable of doing.

‘It’s certainly one of the greatest societal challenges of our time, to find ways to coordinate the behaviours of different actors to achieve what’s best for the collective in the long run.’