The Enervee Score: A one-time nudge that saves energy for years and years
What unsustainable behavior needs to change:
Imagine you’re buying a new washing machine. Even if you wanted to choose the most energy-efficient one, you typically can’t – for the simple reason that appliances are labelled purely with the energy class they fall into (both here in the EU and the US). Put another way, we as consumers cannot “choose” the most energy-efficient appliance. Instead, we “have to pick” one (and hope for the best). This distinction between choosing and picking may sound like semantics, but it’s crucial.
We cannot expect consumers to make green choices when they aren’t able to make a choice at all. The Enervee team decided this conundrum was wrong, and wanted to enable consumers to make a greener purchasing decision.
The Green Nudge:
The obvious question however, is whether we as consumers would move to choose the most efficient, if we could. Put another way, do we tend to pick because we cannot choose, or do we pick because we cannot be bothered to choose?
To get to an answer, the team at Enervee combined behavioural and data science, to study every single product in the market, and to develop the “Enervee Score.” The Enervee Score ranks every product in a category, scoring between 0 and 100 – the higher the score, the more efficient the product compared to other similar products. By introducing this score, they turned what had been a “shrouded” attribute into an “actionable” attribute.
The result: In randomised controlled studies they saw a 20% increase in efficiency for products chosen when the score was shown. This result is crucial, regardless of shoppers’ interest in sustainability or the climate.
This simple nudge secured innovation awards and has been held-up as an example of ‘market transformation,’ moving US policymakers away from expensive product rebates. And nudging consumers to buy a more efficient product means there are energy savings every time that product is then turned-on, by virtue of it being more efficient than the average product in that category. This is an example of a single nudge, used one time, that can deliver energy savings across the lifetime of the product.
Do you know of any other nudges that promote better, sustainable decision-making? Feel free to get in touch: hello@green-nudges.com
From Guy Champniss, PhD, Head of Behavioral Science at Inizio Engage XD, a global consulting firm specialising in healthcare strategy and engagement. He also serves as a Professor of Innovation & Behavioral Science at IE Business School. He was a founding member of Enervee, where he was responsible for consumer behaviour. Enervee is a US-based, VC-backed climate-tech company that’s built around a simple behavioural nudge, proven to deliver more energy efficient purchase decisions.
“Who Gives A Crap”: Toilet Paper nudges people to wipe greener
What unsustainable behavior needs to change:
Toilet paper presents a significant environmental concern due to its production process. Mass-produced toilet paper contributes to extensive deforestation, with approximately 1.9 million trees being cut down daily to meet global demand. This massive deforestation not only diminishes vital forest ecosystems but also exacerbates climate change by reducing carbon sinks. The production of toilet paper is also associated with unregulated, often uncounted, carbon emissions. Additionally, the manufacturing process is incredibly water-intensive, consuming approximately 140 litres of water for every toilet roll produced!
Consumers are encouraged to choose sustainable alternatives like Who Gives A Crap (WGAC), which has been redefining the humble toilet roll for a decade. WGAC isn’t just about loo paper; it’s a movement. They give 50% of profits to sanitation projects, and they’re not shy about it. With products like 100% bamboo and recycled tissue, they’re proving that business can be a force for positive change.
The Green Nudge:
By leveraging Behavioral Science nudges, WGAC effectively steers consumer behaviour away from mass-produced goods towards sustainably sourced alternatives.
- Social Proof: They’re not just selling paper; they’re crafting a community. Every customer is a vote for a greener planet. They do this effectively through both their social media content and throughout the website, with a myriad of positive reviews
- Reciprocity: Offers like ‚Give $10, get $10‘ aren’t just deals – they’re a pact. You help us, we help you, and together, we help the world.
- Authority: It’s not just paper; it’s a promise. Their B Corp stamp isn’t a badge – it’s a battle standard for eco-warriors. And they have plenty of powerful, evidence backed statistics.
- Scarcity: ‚Limited time‘ isn’t a gimmick; it’s a call to action. It’s now or never for the planet.
- Emotional Appeal: Every roll has a story. It’s not just about cleaning up after – it’s about cleaning up our act globally.
With half their profits fueling the fight for global sanitation, WGAC is not just wiping away waste but wiping out water woes. They’ve raised AUD $13M+ and they’re just getting started.
Do you know of any other nudges that facilitate the adoption of sustainable product alternatives? Feel free to get in touch: hello@green-nudges.com
From Nicholas Mason. At university, he delved into the psyche of society, only to discover the alchemy of Behavioral Science amidst a career in the advertising labyrinth. For over a decade and a half, he’s been decoding the esoteric ‚why‘ behind consumer behaviour. Nicholas has danced across the marketing spectrum, but it’s in the rich tapestry of BeSci where he found the Rosetta Stone for human behaviour.
Project Power Shift: Default power-down settings for computers
What unsustainable behavior needs to change:
Although most people try to be as sustainable as possible, it’s often easy to forget about the little actions one can take to make a significant difference – like simply turning our electronics off. This is especially true when it comes to our laptops. Instead of shutting down the device completely, we often opt to put our electronics in sleep mode. It’s easier (and faster) to just shut the laptop and walk away, rather than completely powering it down.
Organisations can not only save the energy they use, but also save money, by encouraging employees to turn off their computers at the end of the working day, through the use of green nudging techniques. Setting up automatic power downs is one way of promoting sustainable behaviours in the workplace.
The Green Nudge:
Make behaviour change easy and prime the desired behaviour by setting it up as the automatic default. An automated power down across staff computers at a particular time and outside of work hours, has encouraged organisations to save money and energy. This means that organisations don’t have to rely on their staff members to do the right thing and can set the sustainable mode to default. While this may sound drastic, other approaches were tried and tested, but found to be less effective.
For example: reminding staff and faculty members to turn off their computers by sending emails just before the end of office work hours; and posting sustainability communication on the website was NOT as successful as automating the shutdown across staff computers after work hours.
The result: Portland Community College for instance implemented Project Power Shift and switched off campus computers every night at 11pm. PCC estimates that by setting a default energy shut-down setting saves them more than $80,000 per year and several thousand kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. It just goes to show that implementing default power down settings can save the earth and your wallet.
Are you aware of any other nudges that helps to reduce energy waste? Feel free to get in touch: hello@green-nudges.com
From Madeleine Arber, a behavioural scientist at Simetrica-Jacobs. Simetrica-Jacobs is an economics consultancy company that specialises in quantifying social impacts; such as the positive benefits of green nudges, in monetary values.
Custom kettle stickers: Saving water & energy, one cup of tea at a time
What unsustainable behavior needs to change:
Whether it’s for a cup of tea, coffee, or to fill a pot, chances are you’re using a water kettle multiple times a day. Yet, how often do you pour precisely the required amount of water into your kettle? It’s rarely accurate, often resulting in an overfilled kettle, wasted water and electricity. So, how might one reduce unnecessary water and energy use while preparing your daily hot water fix?
This seemingly minor issue is more serious than you think. Even in a country as tiny as the Netherlands, over 5.3 million cups of tea are brewed daily on average, leading to a considerable waste of water and electricity. Just to put it in perspective: boiling a litre of water consumes as much energy as keeping a light on for an entire day! Quite wasteful, isn’t it?
The Green Nudge:
To address that issue, behavioural agency, “Unravel Behaviour” devised a Green Nudge to encourage the precise amount of water required in the kettle: stickers that guide and personalise tea cup volumes.
Quantity charts on most kettles range from 1.5 to 2 litres; leaving out the precise millilitre measurement for a cup of tea. To ensure more accurate water usage, the experiment used a custom kettle sticker appliqué, specifically tailored to the volume of one’s favourite tea cup as the variable; and had one without – to serve as the control. This created nearly two identical kettles, differing only in the placement of the stickers.
The result: Compared to the standard kettles, the stickered kettles showed 195 ml of unused water remaining in the kettle. This means an extra glass of water, on average, was wasted in every tea-making attempt without the customised stickers. The translation of this impact: The nudge led to substantial energy savings and 1 glass of water, less wasted per person. Just in the Netherlands alone, overall, this totals 97 litres per individual, and a staggering 1.4 billion litres saved annually.
Are you aware of any other nudges that help to save water or energy? Feel free to get in touch: hello@green-nudges.com
From Diede Vendrig, a behaviour change psychologist at Unravel Behavior – a behavioural science-based agency. They collaborate with governments and organisations to achieve lasting behavioural change by applying insights from behavioural science.
“Recycle me!”: How anthropomorphism increases recycling responsibility
What unsustainable behavior needs to change:
Recycling is a vital pillar in the circular economy: it minimises waste and prolongs material life cycles. Yet as it stands, current recycling rates fall alarmingly short of targets. Despite the fact that numerous brands provide recycling avenues, consumers frequently underutilize them; thereby squandering resources. This stems from inadequate motivation, fueled by the belief that individual efforts lack impact.
The Green Nudge:
In an US study involving 188 participants, researchers Alisa Y. Wu, Maayan S. Malter, and Gita Venkataramani Johar explored the efficacy of anthropomorphism. This concept proposes that imparting human-like qualities to non-human objects fosters emotional bonds and heightened responsibility. This underscores how anthropomorphizing non-human objects could trigger a sense of responsibility towards recycling, and thus motivate individuals to actively engage in responsible waste management.
Participants were enlisted to sample a bakery’s newly developed biscuit, accompanied by an explanation of the inspiration behind the recipe.
To investigate the impact of anthropomorphism, half of the participants received a text where the biscuit was anthropomorphized using first-person singular („I“), while the other half received a non-humanized text referring to the biscuit as „It“. Following the tasting and text reading, participants were tasked with discarding waste – the biscuit’s wrapping paper and accompanying note – using adjacent regular and recycling bins. The study’s focus rested on quantifying the recycling behaviour and comparing how many individuals in each group disposed of the materials in recycle versus regular bins.
The result: the participants who received the anthropomorphic text (first-person singular) recycled the paper significantly more often: 96.8% of them recycled the paper compared to 89.4% in the control group.
Are you aware of any other nudges that help to get insights on energy consumption? Feel free to comment or get in touch: hello@green-nudges.com
Today’s nudge has been dug out from 3 members of the research team from the Institute for Marketing and Customer Insight at the University of St. Gallen: (1) Prof. Dr. Johanna Gollnhofer is Executive Director and Associate Professor of Marketing at U of St.Gallen. Her research and teaching focuses on marketing, consumption and sustainability. (2) Janina Kauz is a doctoral candidate and research associate. In her research, she investigates the inheritance of brand relationships. (3) Julia Gisler is a doctoral candidate and research associate. In her research, she focuses on sustainable consumption practices and sustainable branding.
Empowering households: Energy displays provide control over energy bills
What unsustainable behavior needs to change:
Tenants in housing corporations and municipalities often have limited insights into their energy consumption patterns. This in turn can hinder their ability to make informed choices. Nevertheless, being mindful of their energy usage and actively reducing their consumption of gas, electricity, and heat – plays a crucial role in contributing to the broader goal of energy conservation and transitioning to sustainable energy sources.
The challenge lies in the intangible nature of energy. It’s difficult to quantify how much water is used while showering or the amount of energy required to maintain room temperature on a winter day. Consequently, people often struggle to modify their unsustainable energy behaviour when they cannot accurately evaluate abstract factors like water usage or room temperature.
The Green Nudge:
To address this issue, the “Smarter with your Energy“ initiative proposed the implementation of energy displays for tenants.
Unlike mobile apps, energy displays remain in plain sight (e.g.living room), serving as a constant reminder to conserve energy. For example, the display shows in real-time, how much a shower taken by a member of the household costs. As a person walks into the living room, one can instantly see the effects of their own behaviour displayed on the energy display. It is a simple, yet effective nudge that provides immediate feedback and insight into one’s energy use behaviour.
These tools yield both short-term and long-term benefits. In the short term, tenants witness the immediate impact of their energy-saving efforts on their bills, offering motivation and tangible evidence of the advantages of conservation. Over time, sustained energy-saving practices contribute to a more sustainable and eco-friendly future.
Furthermore, research conducted by the University of Tilburg and Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving (2021) indicates that households using an energy display can save approximately 5% on their annual energy bills; amounting to a yearly saving of €100 to €200 – with energy displays being the sole effective method to achieve these desired results.
Are you aware of any other nudges that help to get insights on energy consumption? Feel free to comment or get in touch: hello@green-nudges.com
From the joint Dutch initiative “Smarter with your Energy“. Together, 3 partners: Woonbond (representing tenants‘ organisation), Aedes (representative housing association), and Quintens (environmental consultancy firm); supported by the Behavior Club and the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations – advise how the communication strategy could drive increased adoption of the Green nudge.
Opower’s neighbour comparisons. Saving energy by making sustainable peer action salient.
What unsustainable behavior needs to change: Let’s go back a couple of thousand years in time. One of our hairy ancestors observes another gatherer picking some fruits from a bush and eating them. Some time later the fruit picker is still alive and well. This day she learned that eating those fruits won’t kill her or her family.
Evolutionary psychology suggests there are five ancestral forces that have shaped human perception and behaviour. In this case: Social imitation.
It refers to the important lesson that human beings learned a very long time ago and which secured our survival: imitating others is the most efficient way to learn. Our brain is therefore wired to do what the majority does.
Unfortunately, the majority of people often influence each other into adverse habits – especially when it comes to the environment. Social scientists have demonstrated the influence of peer behavior in a host of areas. We’ve been building bigger houses, driving heavier vehicles, flying to remote destinations or engaging in a host of other energy-intensive activities. A dominant reason we are doing these things is our tendency to behave as our peers do.
The Green Nudge: There’s reason to believe that peer effects could be similarly beneficial to our climate future.
Utility Companies, for example, have found that customers reduce their electricity usage significantly when told how their consumption compares with that of neighbors.
Opower, a home-energy-management company owned by Oracle, has helped deliver these customer-comparison reports to millions of households served by utilities around the globe; it boasts that the program has helped save enough energy to power San Francisco’s homes for more than 10 years.
Google, the manufacturer of smart Nest thermostats, has incorporated the approach into its product: It rewards customers who choose energy-efficient settings with green leaf icons in their monthly usage summaries, and compares the number of leaves earned with those of other Nest users in the area.”
From Robert H. Frank’s book, Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work.