Encouragement of electricity saving behaviour with real-time smart meters in a university student residential hall

Abstract

With the aim of electricity conservation, we designed the electricity saving competition as interventions to encourage the change in environmental behaviour. Based on a review on the literature, the interventions included a variety of components to provoke electricity conservation, including enhancement of environmental awareness, use of peer pressure, electricity information transparency, competition and rewards. From September 2017 to April 2018, two phases of interventions with over 200 participants were conducted in student residential hall, UG Hall VI, at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Phase I intervention targeted the reduction of electricity by enhancing participants’ environmental awareness. The tools to examine the changes in participants’ environmental awareness was a set of surveys. Prizes were provided as an incentive. From the survey results, the intervention group showed an increase in environmental awareness with a promising electricity reduction when compared to the control group. The best room noted over 50% electricity reduction compared to its own baseline. For the overall electricity consumption, the intervention group noted an electricity reduction while the control group noted an electricity increase during the intervention. Phase II Intervention aimed at electricity conservation through peer pressure. No prize was offered except the announcement of winners to the participants. Focus groups were conducted to access whether peer pressure was affecting student residents in conserving electricity and the result suggested that it is an important factor affecting their electricity usage behaviour. The overall electricity consumption for both intervention and control group increased potentially due to the increase in temperature during the intervention, where the electricity usage of control group increased with a greater extent than the intervention group. The intervention findings showed that peer pressure is a key determinant among the students to achieve electricity conservation. This research has several contributions. The intervention is a demonstration of electricity conservation utilizing real-time smart meter system with enhancement of environmental awareness and involvement of peer influence, thus resulting in electricity consumption behavioural change. Together with energy-saving interventions, we aim at creating a sustainable future.

Date of Award	2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology