Tutorial 2

The potential for energy reduction in

UK commercial offices through
effective management and behavior
change

GEOG 320/01
Timaria Bain
November 23rd, 2015

RELATED TOPICS

Energy
efficiency

Energy
conservati
on

Sustainabil
ity

Reduce
CO2
emissions

I
N
T
R
O
D
U
C
T
I
O
N

Energy efficiency: reducing the amount of energy needed

to perform a process.
Energy conservation: using less energy.
Both are important to sustainability.
-Using less resources
-Reducing pollution (carbon emissions)

How does reducing electricity consumption reduce

carbon emissions?
Combustion: coal, natural gas or oil is used to generate
electricity
By reducing how much energy you use, you reduce the
amount of fossil fuels used, therefore reducing the CO2
that would be given off during the combustion process

SUMMAR Y
Main focus: can we reduce energy consumption in
business offices by changing behavior?
Existing literature:
The UK has a plan of reduced C02 emissions of 34% by 2020 ; this
has changed construction; introduces strict energy performance
regulations
One of these is becoming more energy efficient in office
equipment in order to reduce carbon emissions .
There is a performance gap between predicted design and actual
carbon emissions
(2is becoming
3 times more
someefficient,
cases) why
If equipment
more in
energy
are there still high carbon emissions?
Focused on creating energy efficient models, but not
enforcing energy conservation methods.

esearch has shown significant fluctuations between desktop energy consumptio

oblematic behaviors:
Leaving plugs in while not in use (may still draw power)
Not powering down equipment at the end of the day (or going on lunch break)

Method: examined a total of 90 desks in two different offices that had

energy efficient equipment
1. Placed energy monitoring devices on each work station and
monitored usage for 100 days. (used to collect baseline data)
2. Interventions (stimulated behavior change):
Comparative feedback: compare your activity to the average.
This will motivate you to do better so that can you reach the
average or norm
Given appraisal every 2 weeks, was given a report of your
energy usage (given a smiley face or frowning face)
Also split up reporting of energy consumption into day/night so
they know how much energy they used by leaving equipment
plugged in/on overnight
3. Energy usage was monitored again and compared to the baseline
data

Baseline Data

Office A

Office B

Average energy consumption

a day

225 wh

236 wh

Range of energy
consumption

89 393
wh/day

162 448 wh/day

Powering down rate

72%

70%

- Also found that up to 23% of the overall energy

consumption at each of the 90 desks were due to
non-working hours (during the night).

Results
After intervention and follow-up monitoring period:

Office A

Office B

Power down rate

increase

From 72% to
79%

From 70% to 83%

Leaving in plugs
overnight

46% reduction

56% reduction

Overall reduction

17.9%

20%

Overall energy consumption was reduced due to changes in

behavior.
Total carbon savings in 90 desk areas: 603 kgCO2/year.

Savings are small in a broad sense, but if this cost effective method is
applied on a larger scale, the carbon savings can be significant.

1) Energy efficiency and energy conservation go hand in hand

In offices that already had energy efficient equipment , it was still
possible to reduce overall energy consumption and carbon emissions
2) Hawthorne studies, regression and long term
strategies
Hawthorne effect: workers do better when they
Discussion
know they are being watched
Regression: after treatment or training is
finished, subjects tend to revert back to previous
behavior
It is important to have measures that the
intervention effects create a long term habitual
3) Importance
of cost effective
solutions
change (Monitoring
software)
Energy conservation might be cheaper for a company than changing
to energy efficient models
Monitoring employee usage rather than switching entire fleet of
computers
4) Push factor: reduce carbon emissions and save money
5) Tragedy of the commons
Individual behavior has impact on the overall
situation

Do both: use energy efficient appliances and

make a conscious effort to conserve energy

Reducing electricity consumption reduces carbon

emissions (and reduce individual impact on global
warming)

You need to change behavior in order to see

progress

Conclusio
n

1. Ways to conserve energy: Turn off lights and

water when not in use; Take out plugs at night
2. Energy conservation technology: automatic shut
down software, put lights on a timer, use faucets
that stop automatically, copiers shut down
automatically
3. Education is important
Try to fix wasteful behavior, but also stop this
behavior from happening
4. Bahamian businesses can use the comparative
feedback method
Hidden method to motivate or change