Approaches to induce behavioral changes with respect to electricity consumption

Facilitating behavioral changes is indispensable for reducing energy demand and ultimately achieving a sustainable society. However, individual methods by which to induce such behavioral changes have been considered in specific fields and disciplines. In the present study, we carried out an intensive review of academic journal articles and reports related to approaches, instruments, and practices of demand control in electricity and relevant behavioral changes across various fields and disciplines, such as engineering, economics, policy research, and psychology. Our goal is to discuss the effectiveness of these approaches and instruments and to discuss the relevant conditions for effective policy design to induce behavioral changes in a comprehensive manner. We selected and reviewed 110 papers published between 1978 and 2015 covering the practices in 17 countries that appear to be the most relevant to our research purposes. In general, empirical studies show that demand control approaches such as dynamic pricing and information feedback either shift the peak load or reduce electricity consumption. In addition, the effectiveness of an instrument depends on the characteristics of the location, the household, the industry, and the climate. We found only a small amount of literature on the life cycle impact on energy consumption and life cycle costs, although these studies are essential for better policy design for realizing energy savings and a sustainable society.