Energy Conservation Techniques as Innovations, and their Diffusion

Many effective products, procedures, and techniques for achieving energy conservation have been discovered by researchers. This paper focuses on the conditions under which these procedures and techniques will be adopted voluntarily. It is suggested, first, that an economic incentive for the utilization of those energy-conserving techniques is not a sufficient condition for their adoption, and second, that a psychologically-based theory of the diffusion of innovation will identify the critical variables for promoting the adoption of energy conserving products and techniques. Based on preliminary, small-scale observations of homeowners' reactions to a complex, time-controlled thermostat, the initial parameters of a diffusion theory for energy innovation are suggested.