Assessing the effect of non-financial information intervention on promoting group-level energy savings

Abstract Increasing attention has been paid to information intervention in stimulating household energy conservation. However, for group-level energy users who have no financial motivation to save energy, little is known about which types of non-financial information intervention (NFII) strategies can effectively motivate group-level energy conservation. A 14-week controlled field experiment was conducted to test the energy-saving effect of 4 types of NFII strategies. The results show that compared with the control group, the experimental group receiving normative information and group-contrast feedback decreased electricity consumption by 24.23%. Followed by the group receiving normative information and self-contrast feedback and the group receiving environmental education information and group-contrast feedback. The group receiving environmental education information and self-contrast feedback showed no significant energy savings. Analysis of variance further showed that normative information had a better energy-saving effect than environmental education information, and the energy-saving effects produced by group-contrast feedback were better than that of self-contrast feedback. These conclusions provide insights and recommendations on how to use NFII to motivate group-level energy conservation.