Energy Efficiency in Buildings Behavioral Issues (1985) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
4. Information-Based Home Retrofit Programs
4. Information-Based Home Retrofit Programs
Pages 53-63
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 53... ...
For such programs, getting the information used has two aspects: increasing the proportion of eligible households that request energy audits and increasing the rate of retrofit activity among households that receive audits. Most audit-based conservation programs have been based on clear, if implicit, beliefs about what leads households to request energy audits and then to retrofit their homes.
|
From page 54... ...
This strategy has been used, explicitly at times, and with apparent success. For example, when the Bonneville Power Administration initiated its Hood River Conservation Project, a team of social scientists first identified the major social groups that would have to be represented if the program was to get needed community support (Keating and Flynn, 1984~.
|
From page 55... ...
A community advisory council helps relay community reactions to the program managers. The response to these vigorous efforts offers lessons for the managers of other programs, especially because both the Hood River and Santa Monica programs include serious evaluation plans.
|
From page 56... ...
And it suggests that mentioning the experience of a neighbor in an energy audit can promote retrofit by encouraging program participants to speak to neighbors who have such experience. Small experimental trials conducted in the context of existing retrofit programs could readily evaluate such hypothesese The results would be assessed by techniques of program evaluation (see below)
|
From page 57... ...
Several evaluations of individual RCS programs, collections of programs at the state level, and conservation incentive programs relying on energy audits have calculated participation rates and estimated the energy saved, its economic value, and the cost/benefit ratios of the programs (for reviews, see U.S. Department of Energy, 1984; Hirst, 1984~.
|
From page 58... ...
It is not always clear from the reports which factors were controlled, and there has not been a systematic attempt to learn from the evaluations which of the factors make an important difference. In addition to these noncomparable factors, the DOE evaluation is based on the following assumptions: that the state evaluations are equally valid; that a system of weighting the results reE,or ted from a few states accurately represents a national total; that increased comfort in retrofitted homes has zero benefit in cost/benefit calculations; that the existence of RCS has no effect on energy use except among households receiving audits; and that RCS has zero benefit to utility companies or governments.
|
From page 59... ...
Few evaluations have paid close attention to the effects of particular features of conservation programs, their administration, or their participants, so few evaluations have been useful for attributing the effects of programs to their elements. Most evaluations have aimed to judge programs as a whole against criteria of energy savings or cost-effectiveness, an approach that implicitly and incorrectly assumes that program implementation does not matter.
|
From page 60... ...
60 a, A to to A o ·rl o v As o Sit o U]
|
From page 61... ...
61 o ~ ~ a' ~ ~ is u]
|
From page 62... ...
RECOMMENDATIONS Behavioral research has identified promising strategies and program elements for information-based conservation programs, and available evidence supports the validity of the behavioral approach. However, from the viewpoint of managers who want to improve participation in their programs, available knowledge is too scanty to offer reliable and specific advice.
|
From page 63... ...
3. Conduct small-scale experimental field trials of promising program elements within ongoing conservation programs.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.