Behaviour psychology and energy

"The most efficient light bulb is one that is switched off...Behavior is messy, motivations are messy, but they're still a crucial part of the puzzle."

That is how Jon Bird sums up his attempts to make people change their ways. A senior research associate at University College London who divides his time between the computer science and psychology departments, he recently enlisted a group of 17 households on Tidy Street in Brighton, a seaside town south of London, who agreed to record their electricity use over time. To make their progress (or lack thereof) plainly visible, he enlisted artists from the nearby Goldsmiths College to stencil a giant graph down the street.

When they started, the residents of Tidy Street were about average for Brighton, but within three weeks, they had reduced their electricity use by 15 percent. Bird credits the change to the fact that residents were 1. Paying attention 2. getting some public notice for their efforts, both from the press and from inquisitive passersby. Each time their performance improved, they felt a little community pride. When they slipped back, the giant public display gave them a variation on the magic buzzer treatment.

But… three weeks later a few households bowed out, but 80 percent agreed to carry on. Six weeks into the experiment, however, they were down to just 50 percent participation. And now, six months in, only three households are checking their meters each day. Of those, only two have kept their electricity use down. How to sustain changed behaviour is a challenge still unsolved.

Bird's work falls within a growing body of what is known as "nudge" theory, which looks at ways to use behavioral psychology to encourage citizens to make smart choices. Social norms marketing" -- providing people with the data to compare themselves to their neighbors -- can inspire change, yes, but soon people fall back on old ways.

It's tough but .. well, it's needed. Perhaps the nudge will have to become a push?!