The SAVE project’s review of evidence onĀ ‘Energy Efficiency and Behaviour Change‘ which has just been published shows that whilst theĀ great variety of previous trialĀ approaches and contexts often makes it difficult to compare results, common insights haveĀ emerged.Ā These include:
- CustomersĀ cannot be engaged as one group – the wayĀ in which different people react to attempts to change their energy behaviour differs and engagementĀ needs to be tailored appropriately without resulting in prohibitive costs;
- Financial incentives can be effective but potentially need to be relatively large and impacts areĀ often not sustainable over time;
- Normative comparisons between households have been shown to be very successful when basedĀ on intelligent like-for-like comparisons;
- Energy efficiency results need to be analysed within the context of wider factors such as theĀ economic and regional context;
- Many trials have found a core group or customer segment whoseĀ behaviour is very difficult to change. Successful ways of engaging with this segment, which tends to beĀ the largest single group, would add significantly to the knowledge base in this area.
OverallĀ the projectsĀ reviewed repeatedly demonstrated that customers need more than one reason to engage andĀ change behaviour. Programmes that layer and combine measures to provide a compelling behaviour change proposition will therefore be needed but care is neededĀ to ensure that there is enough control to still be able to distinguish the impact of differentĀ measures.