Enervee is pleased to announce the publication of the following Open Access paper in the Springer journal Energy Efficiency:
Arquit Niederberger, A. & Champniss, G. Flip sides of the same coin? A simple efficiency score versus energy bill savings information to drive consumers to choose more energy-efficient products. Energy Efficiency (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-017-9542-3
The paper presents results on decision-making, preferences and online shopping behavior obtained from a series of observational (utility-branded marketplace platform analytics) and experimental studies (randomized controlled trials).
The trials all show that the use of our zero to 100 Enervee Score has a significant effect on consumer product choices, encouraging shoppers to select more energy-efficient products, consistent with the observational data. In contrast, the energy bill savings information proved salient in some cases, but not others. The strongest effect was found when we looked at the response of people with lower socioeconomic status, for whom financial considerations are front and center.
The simple-to-process Enervee Score appears to elicit a hot/impulsive decision style, whilst the cognitively more complex energy bill savings information prompts a reflective/cool decision style.
This paper presents the theoretical underpinning for the design of utility-branded Marketplaces powered by Enervee and complements more recent studies related to the design of our product cards.
Harnessing big data to integrate a relative energy efficiency score throughout the modern consumer product shopping journey has great potential to eliminate market inefficiencies and thereby transform markets with minimal intervention, no reduction in choice and a sustained energy gain.
It is an approach that aligns well with ambitious energy efficiency goals and strategies, as well as the emerging role of utilities as facilitators of transactions between customers and distributed energy resource providers. Our findings suggest new opportunities to empower households, including low- and moderate-income households, to shop resource smart.
