COBHAM – Behavioral interverventions for the promotion of energy saving

The project integrated different disciplines – behavioural economics, big data analytics, integrated assessment modeling – with the objective to go beyond the standard analysis of energy and climate policies in the presence of environmental externalities. The novelty of COBHAM in combining these approaches, was to also account for the heterogeneity in preferences, the role of social interactions, and the presence of behavioral tendencies and biases.

A series of methodologies were used for advancing the understanding and representation of pro-climate behavior.

Statistical methods based on randomization were used. Randomized Control Trials (RCT) separate citizens or users into control and treatment groups of a priori identical groups. Only treatment groups receive behavioural interventions, and we measure their effectiveness by comparing them against the control group.

Field experiments were conducted with several leading energy companies in Italy, Europe and elsewhere (China, US, Pakistan), testing behavioural interventions (e.g. social comparisons, loss aversion, real time feedback, goal setting, etc) on many decisions, such as electricity consumption, appliance purchasing, gas self reads, bill repayment, air conditioning use, etc.

Large databases of millions of observations were processed, also coming from high frequency smart devices, to identify clusters of users based on their responsiveness, and thus allow to defined custom interventions.

In doing so, it was possibile to provide a richer characterization of energy demand response, to evaluate the impact of behavioural (‘nudges’) and traditional interventions on emission reductions.

COBHAM:

• tested behavioral interventions to promote energy efficiency, pro-environmental behaviour, and adoption of green technologies;
• modeled energy demand response using the big data coming from smart meters and devices;
• built a behaviorally founded integrated assessment model for the assessment of climate change and energy policies.

The results have been the subject of numerous peer reviewed publications, accessible from the project website.

On the policy front, the research team have advised several regulatory agencies, companies and institutions on the use of field experiments and behavioural science for designing and evaluating behavioural programs.