The role of environmental attitude in the efficacy of smart-meter-based feedback interventions

Abstract

When implemented in the field, smart-meter-based feedback interventions typically lag behind the presumed energy-saving potential of the technology. As we and others argue, part of the problem is that such interventions do not work equally well for everyone. The significance of a feedback intervention for actual energy savings depends on the rigor with which people make use of smart-meter-based information. In a quasi-experiment (N = 186), we expectedly found that registering for a web portal that provided smart-meter-based feedback led to moderate energy savings conditional on a person’s environmental attitude level. Apparently, a person’s attitude discloses itself in the rigor with which this person makes use of an energy-saving opportunity. Hence, to effectively restrain consumption and save energy, environmental attitude is essential because, not only must people make appropriate behavioral choices, but they must also rigorously implement these choices.