Garrison Institute’s Boston Hub – the Spring Gathering

Greetings, Behavior Change Enthusiasts and Climate Change Challengers!

Join us at our upcoming meeting of the Garrison Institute’s Boston Hub – the Spring Gathering on Wednesday, June 5^th at 4:30pm for further explorations into the nature of behavior change science for greenhouse gas mitigation.

What:  Boston CMB Regional Hub Meeting

Where: Fraunhofer in the Seaport: 5 Channel Center Street, Boston, 02210

When: Wednesday June 5^th 4:30-6pm

We will have food and drinks and hear from two of our members: Kurt Roth of Fraunhofer (Dir. of Building Energy Technologies) and Dallase Scott from GreenerU (Sustainability Program Manager). Each will present brief, 15 minute talks, and we will have plenty of time for questions and conversations.

Details on Guest Speakers

Kurt will present: “For better or for worse? Empirical evidence of moral licensing in a behavioral energy conservation campaign”

Environmental campaigns focusing on target behaviors are rolled out to millions of households. Yet it is not clear if these programs lead to adoption of additional environment-friendly behaviors (positive spillover) or reduced engagement in other environmental domains. We conducted a controlled field study to determine if positive or unintended contrary side effects dominate by evaluating the impact of a water conservation campaign on electricity consumption. We use daily water and weekly electricity consumption data of 154 apartments in a multifamily residential building. The results show that residents who received weekly feedback on their water consumption lowered their water use, but increased their electricity consumption by 5.6% relative to the control group. Our findings are consistent with moral licensing behavior. In the future, we recommend taking a more comprehensive view in environmental program design/evaluation to attempt to mitigate such unintended effects.

Dallase will present: “Knowing the Full Story: The Process for Effective Program Evaluation”

This presentation will provide participants with an overview of a year-long study that evaluated the effectiveness of a behavior campaign to reduce energy use in dorms. In this study  four dorms at Brown University received dorm efficiency and control upgrades. Only students in two of the dorms received a targeted behavior campaign  along with the new upgrades. Building energy use, window opening behaviors and awareness and attitudes were examined  between the control and targeted dorms.  During this presentation, we will review the process of 1-Choosing a short term objective to be examined. 2-Choosing an appropriate research design, given constraints and capacities. 3- Determining measurable indicators of success for project objectives. 4-Collecting and analyzing information to identify program impacts.

Please RSVP to Adam Meier adamm@garrisoninstitute.org, (CMB Program Associate at the Garrison Institute). We are grateful for the continued support and sponsorship of the Garrison Institute and the staff at the Climate, Mind, & Behavior Program.