Tools

Improving Energy Conservation With Effective Home Audit Programs in California Using Communication and Commitment

Cases
Aronson, E. (1990). Applying social psychology to desegregation and energy conservation. Special Issue: Illustrating the value of basic research. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 1, 118-132.
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) in California provided a home audit program as a method to improve energy conservation. This initiative gave homeowners a free home ins…

Encouraging Environmentally Friendly Shopping using Prompts, Commitment and Norms

Cases
Customers at a Zehr's supermarket in Kitchener, Ontario were encouraged to purchase environmentally friendly products. 168 products were identified that either had least-waste pac…

Food For Thought (And Action!) Program

Cases
The Food For Thought (And Action!) program started in the 1st Unitarian Church in Portland, Oregon in March 2002. The intent was to bring to light the connections between dietary …

Using Commitment to Reduce Energy Consumption in Iowa City

Cases
Pallak, M.S., D.A. Cook and J.J. Sullivan (1980). Commitment and Energy Conservation. In L. Bickman (ed.), Applied Social Psychology Annual 235-253, Beverley Hills, Ca: Sage.
First, a literature review identified public commitment as an effective tool for behavior change. In order to further investigate the effectiveness of commitment, this tool was in…

Motivating Community Recycling: New Zealand Curbside Trial

Cases
Randomly selected residents of New Zealand were asked to participate in a curbside recycling trial. Two weeks before the first collection they received a letter from the mayor tha…

Adopt-A-Road

Cases
Adopt-A-Road is a successful program that encourages waste reduction in southern Indiana. The goal is to obtain volunteers who will adopt at least one mile of a road. Individuals …

Promoting Public Transit in Urban Areas with Incentives and Commitment

Cases
Bachman, W. , & Katzev, R. (1982). The effects of non-contingent free bus tickets and personal commitment on urban bus ridership. Transportation Research, 16A, 2, 103-108.
In order to decrease dependence on single occupant vehicles and to improve fossil fuel conservation, a pilot program was designed to increase ridership on mass transit. A literatu…

Excuse Me Do You Recycle? Public Participation in Curbside Recycling in the UK.

Cases
In 1990, the UK government set a target for the recycling of 25% of household waste by the year 2000. With this new target, many local authorities began to re-think their recyclin…

Clean Builder Program

Cases
St. John's Clean and Beautiful is dedicated to increasing environmental awareness, reducing litter, and encouraging community beautification. The Clean Builder program is designed…

McDonald's Waste Reduction Task Force

Cases
On August 1, 1990, the McDonald's Corporation and Environmental Defense joined forces in a unique collaborative project. They worked together to develop ways to reduce McDonald's …

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