Target Behaviors for Energy Efficiency in Businesses

Hi Kevin,
Just wondering if you've been successful in finding any detail on potential energy savings from behavior change efforts in the business enviroment.

We are working through prioritzing strategies and are having a hard time finding this type of information. I've found quite a bit that relates to residential behavior change but not much on the business/commercial side.

Thanks,
Lynne Eichner
Sustainable Operations Analyst
City of Eugene
Eugene, OR


Lynne  Eichner
Sustainable Operations Analyst
City of Eugene Oregon, Facility Management Division
United States

Kevin,

I work for a consulting firm that specializes in behavioral energy efficiency programs for businesses. We work with a variety of organization types, and as others have mentioned, the behaviors worth targeting are often dependent upon the type of business, its size, hours of operation, staff, etc. There are certainly general 'rules of thumb' that are universally beneficial; however with a more specific target market, I could help you narrow down what will make the most impact.

We have several case studies and over 10 years worth of data supporting targeted low- and no-cost behaviors. I would be happy to speak with you more in depth if you are interested!

Ann Arney
[email protected]
www.class5energy.com



Ann Arney
Consultant
CLASS 5 Energy
United States

Jennifer,
You bring up a really good point about the psychological and momentum building impacts of small energy-conscious actions.
I agree likelihood of adaptation should be considered and prioritized, but I am also looking for information that quantifies the impact of these behavior.

Thanks,

Kevin Brehm
Intern Commercial Building Efficiency
Boulder County
United States

Thank you for the responses!

Karyn,
- You're definitely right that an industry specific research is more likely to yield useful results, but I though I would see if aggregated commercial data existed.

- The EECA resources do a great job elaborating energy-saving behaviors and explaining how to introduce those behaviors into a workplace. I'm will continue to peruse the resource center section of the website to search for data about the likely quantifiable impacts of certain actions

- You suggest finding "industry specific data on energy wastages". This seems like a really productive approach, but how do you distinguish between energy usage in a sector and energy wastage in a sector? I have found resources that break down the types of energy usages in different industries, but they don't specify which part of the energy usage is "wastage". Have you encountered any resources that distinguish between usage and wastage?


Kevin Brehm
Intern Commercial Building Efficiency
Boulder County
United States

Hi Kevin, I would suggest you consider assessing these behaviours not just in terms of their energy savings impact, but also in terms of their probability (probability being the likelihood your target audience will be ready, willing, and able to participate in the desired behaviour). My firm has done extensive work within the commercial building environment with tenants/businesses and we've found that sometimes the high probability behaviours, although they may not have a high impact in terms of energy savings, are very worthwhile targeting (especially when they are very low cost); as these behaviours can act as an engagement opportunity and help to create momentum and encouragement for participating in a more challenging behaviour. An example is turning off monitors - not a high impact behaviour - but it has virtually no barriers, no cost association, and is highly applicable to almost the entire target audience, hence we tend to have very high participation and compliancy when we undertake "monitor shutdown challenges". Then, when we undertake a more challenging behaviour the following month, we've already captured buy-in amongst our target audience and they are more likely to participate in the more challenging (likely higher impact, but lower probability) behaviour. Presuming, of course, that we've done everything we can to reduce the barriers associated to this more challenging behaviour.
The perfect combination of high impact and high probability is often difficult to find, but don't discount the high probability behaviours for the value they can add to engagement.



Jennifer Davis
Principal
TurnLeaf Consulting Inc.
Canada
www.turnleaf.ca

Any detailed research in this area is likely to be industry specific, so it might help if you narrowed your search.

You'll come across some useful guides and research on http://www.eecabusiness.govt.nz/
in particular, you may also find this guide of use:
http://www.eecabusiness.govt.nz/energyspot/episode-13/involving-staff-in-saving-energy

If you can find some industry specific data on the main energy wastages, you should then be able to identify if it has a technical or behaviour change solution, and prioritise from there.

Karyn Owen
Project Co-ordinator
Venture Southland
New Zealand