November 19, 2009
I spent three days in Washington, D.C., at the third annual Behavior, Energy & Climate Change (BECC) Conference earlier this week and here's a taste of what I heard and observed.
Dan Ariely, a professor at Duke University said: "If you wanted to create a problem that people wouldn't care about, you'd probably come up with global warming." Ouch!
He also said: "When people have a trade-off between now and later, now is really important, later less so."
According to Brian Keane of Smart Power, fewer than 3% of Americans are willing to pay a premium to purchase clean energy.
U.S. Representative Brian Baird of Washington State and chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy & Environment suggested that "global overheating" is a more apt--and impactful--phrase than "global warming." His point: If you overheat, you die.
More than one speaker suggested that global warming should be framed as a health and wellbeing threat, not an environmental issue. People care most about, well, themselves and those close to them.
Matt Trevithick of Venrock said that by 2011 there should be some 30 million Smart Meters installed and we will have much more information about how they affect people's behavior.
Gene Rodrigues of Southern California Edison wondered about the persistence of conservation savings. "None of us really understands whether the savings will last." He cited the rebound effect.
He also said "The worst energy efficiency program beats the pants off the best renewables." And he's from solar-rich southern California.
A few speakers used the word "conservation," distinct from "energy efficiency." Conservation is associated with human behavior and energy efficiency with devices.
According to Anthony Leiserowitz of Yale University, based on findings of the Gallup World Poll, four in ten people in the world have never heard of global warming (or overheating).
Finally, most people don't think about most issues most of the time. Now that's a sobering thought for anyone trying to affect attitudes and behaviors.
