Paper Number
2194
Paper Type
Complete Research Paper
Abstract
The energy efficiency gap is a long-discussed phenomenon that describes the lack of investment in energy efficiency technology having a positive net present value. This negatively impacts the transition to carbon neutral technology. Information systems can potentially support closing this gap as it is often attributed to a lack of information or its saliency. We conduct an online experiment using a real-effort task that can be solved using energy, in order to compare the tendency of investing in an energy efficiency measure given real-time cost information against a control group. We cannot identify an energy efficiency gap but in the absence of economic advantages, participants with salient real-time cost information show a significantly lower threshold for investment in energy efficiency. Furthermore, unexpectedly, we do not find an impact of salient real-time cost information on consumption but we do find evidence for rebound effects from energy efficiency investment.
Recommended Citation
Staudt, Philipp and Werthschulte, Madeline, "Experimental Evaluation of the Effect of Salient Real-Time Cost Information on the Energy Efficiency Gap" (2024). ECIS 2024 Proceedings. 29.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2024/track17_greenis/track17_greenis/29
Experimental Evaluation of the Effect of Salient Real-Time Cost Information on the Energy Efficiency Gap
The energy efficiency gap is a long-discussed phenomenon that describes the lack of investment in energy efficiency technology having a positive net present value. This negatively impacts the transition to carbon neutral technology. Information systems can potentially support closing this gap as it is often attributed to a lack of information or its saliency. We conduct an online experiment using a real-effort task that can be solved using energy, in order to compare the tendency of investing in an energy efficiency measure given real-time cost information against a control group. We cannot identify an energy efficiency gap but in the absence of economic advantages, participants with salient real-time cost information show a significantly lower threshold for investment in energy efficiency. Furthermore, unexpectedly, we do not find an impact of salient real-time cost information on consumption but we do find evidence for rebound effects from energy efficiency investment.
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