Answering Behavioral Questions about Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Stern, P. C., Aronson, E., Darley, J. M., Kempton, W., Hill, D. H., Hirst, E. & Wilbanks, T. J. (1987). Answering behavioral questions about energy efficiency in buildings. Energy, 12, 5, 339-353.

We identify behavioral questions that arise with 4 kinds of policy interventions for energy efficiency in buildings: information, incentives, standards, and technological research and development. A general strategy is described for answering such questions by using 6 analytical methods: formal models, analysis of existing data, surveys, ethnographic methods, small-scale experimentation, and evaluation research. We evaluate each method for addressing each behavioral question in policy analyses.

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