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Nudges from school children and electricity conservation: Evidence from the “Project Carbon Zero” campaign in Singapore

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  • Agarwal, Sumit
  • Rengarajan, Satyanarain
  • Sing, Tien Foo
  • Yang, Yang

Abstract

Can children effectively nudge their parents to change their energy consumption behavior? This study sets up a quasi-experiment using the “Project Carbon Zero” campaign, an energy-saving contest in Singapore, to empirically test the effectiveness of school children nudges in bringing electricity conservation messages home and influencing behaviors of their families and neighbors. Based on the 2km (km) home–school distance as an identification, our results show that families living within 2km from participating schools (treatment group) used 1.8% less electricity at the block level than other families outside the 2km school zone (control group) during the contest period. The electricity savings effects are persistent with an estimated marginal savings 1.6% in the post-campaign months. The results imply that policy makers and advocates for energy conservation could use school children nudges in public campaigns, instead of pecuniary interventions, to drive home behavioral changes in electricity conservation of families.

Suggested Citation

  • Agarwal, Sumit & Rengarajan, Satyanarain & Sing, Tien Foo & Yang, Yang, 2017. "Nudges from school children and electricity conservation: Evidence from the “Project Carbon Zero” campaign in Singapore," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 29-41.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:61:y:2017:i:c:p:29-41
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2016.10.014
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    Cited by:

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    2. IGEI Kengo & KUROKAWA Hirofumi & ISEKI Masato & KITSUKI Akinori & KURITA Kenichi & MANAGI Shunsuke & NAKAMURO Makiko & SAKANO Akira, 2022. "Nudges to Increase the Effectiveness of Environmental Education: New evidence from a field experiment," Discussion papers 22111, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. McAndrew, Ryan & Mulcahy, Rory & Gordon, Ross & Russell-Bennett, Rebekah, 2021. "Household energy efficiency interventions: A systematic literature review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    4. Lijun Zeng & Laijun Zhao & Qin Wang & Bingcheng Wang & Yuan Ma & Wei Cui & Yujing Xie, 2018. "Modeling Interprovincial Cooperative Energy Saving in China: An Electricity Utilization Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-25, January.
    5. Rebecca Afua Klege & Martine Visser & Saugato Datta & Matthew Darling, 2022. "The Power of Nudging: Using Feedback, Competition, and Responsibility Assignment to Save Electricity in a Non-residential Setting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 81(3), pages 573-589, March.
    6. Phu Nguyen-Van & Anne Stenger & Tuyen Tiet, 2021. "Social incentive factors in interventions promoting sustainable behaviors: A meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-27, December.
    7. Agarwal, Sumit & Sing, Tien Foo & Sultana, Mahanaaz, 2022. "Public media campaign and energy conservation: A natural experiment in Singapore," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    8. Martine Visser & Matthew Darling & Rebecca A. Klege & Saugato Datta, 2018. "“The Power of Nudging: Using Feedback, Competition and Responsibility Assignment to Save Electricity in a Non-Residential Settingâ€," Working Papers 763, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    9. Ornaghi, Carmine & Costanza, Enrico & Kittley-Davies, Jacob & Bourikas, Leonidas & Aragon, Victoria & James, Patrick A.B., 2018. "The effect of behavioural interventions on energy conservation in naturally ventilated offices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 582-591.
    10. KUROKAWA Hirofumi & IGEI Kengo & KITSUKI Akinori & KURITA Kenichi & MANAGI Shunsuke & NAKAMURO Makiko & SAKANO Akira, 2022. "Nudges to Increase the Effectiveness of Environmental Education," Discussion papers 22047, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Dieneke Van de Sompel & Liselot Hudders & Lore Vandenberghe, 2020. "Cycling for a Sustainable Future. Stimulating Children to Cycle to School via a Synergetic Combination of Informational and Behavioral Interventions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, April.
    12. Gill, Carrie & Lang, Corey, 2018. "Learn to conserve: The effects of in-school energy education on at-home electricity consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 88-96.
    13. Zhang, Quanda & Appau, Samuelson & Kodom, Peter Lord, 2021. "Energy poverty, children's wellbeing and the mediating role of academic performance: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    14. Liddle, Brantley & Loi, Tian Sheng Allan & Owen, Anthony D. & Tao, Jacqueline, 2020. "Evaluating consumption and cost savings from new air-conditioner purchases: The case of Singapore," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy conservation; Behavioral intervention; Peer effects; Income effect; Selective intervention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis
    • R3 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location

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