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Analyzing habits, willingness, effectiveness, and costs of current household energy-saving activities

University of British Columbia. Campus and Community Planning

For our team’s energy conservation study, we examined four attributes related to energy conservation: Vancouver residents’ current beliefs about effective energy saving practices at home, conservation actions currently executed by residents, additional actions or activities they would be willing to adopt, and perceptions regarding costs of certain activities. Ultimately, our research question was: What do Vancouver residents believe are the most effective energy conservation practices at home? What actions are they currently doing and what would they be willing to adopt? For our study, we conducted a survey that asked participants ten common energy conservation activities (such as turning off the light) and measured their current habits, perceived effectiveness, willingness to implement and perceived cost of engaging in the activity. The results from our study show that majority of Vancouver residents aim to run full loads of laundry. Additionally, it seems that most Vancouverites are unwilling to install energy monitoring devices, despite the long-run cost savings. Lastly in terms of costs affecting the other factors, we had inconclusive results, but we did conclude that cost and willingness to implement conservation practices are not independent. This report will outline our study, explain our analysis and walk through our recommendations. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Text

UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Student Report; University of British Columbia. PSYC 321

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0343106

Arts, Faculty of; Psychology, Department of

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/