A STUDY OF THE STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN THE HOUSEHOLD ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF PEOPLE WITH VARYING SELF-IDENTITY AND PERSONAL NORMS (WITH INTERVENTION)

Abstract

An important topic for consideration in society today is the issue of climate change and its detrimental impacts on the earth. A significant part of its emphasis and contributor has been from the residential sector, increasing the need to look into ways to reduce these emissions. It is also known for a fact that different individuals display varying environmental self-identity and personal norms. In fact, these could potentially play a vital role in determining the household energy consumption. Hence, there is a need to study about the relationship between the environmental self- identity and personal norms of an individual against their household consumption habits. In addition to that, intervention methods such as goal setting and feedback could also potentially play a role in the actions and behavior of individuals with regards to the choices they make on energy consumption.

This study aims to examine whether there is any significance in the environment self- identity and personal norms of an individual with regards to the choices made on household energy consumption as well as to observe the effect that intervention methods can have on influencing the decisions of individual’s energy consumption patterns. A total sample of 89 participants were used from 5 parts of Singapore and they were randomly placed in either experiment group one, experiment group two or the control group. Those in the experimental groups were assigned to either the 10% monetary goal or 10% environmental goal. Over the span of one month, the participants in the treatment groups were sent weekly feedback reports regarding the amount of energy consumed from that week, how far they were from their target and what impact their behavior would have on the environment or monetary spending.

The data collection and analysis showed how the varying degree of PSI and PNN of individuals do not play a statistically significant impact on household energy consumption with the presence of intervention but the results may have been affected by the festive season and the stay-home policies that emerged in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. Nonetheless, the findings provide insights to public’s receptiveness to energy-saving initiatives, which will aid the government to tailor existing policies and incentives to involve small group interventions and explore other social factors that may affect public’s receptiveness to conserve energy.

Keywords: Household energy consumption, Intervention, Goal-setting, Feedback, Environmental self-identity, Personal norms