Kathryn B. Janda, Catherine Bottrill and Russell Layberry
The purpose of this paper is to present new empirical data on leases, energy management, and energy meters in the UK, with a particular focus on small and medium enterprises…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present new empirical data on leases, energy management, and energy meters in the UK, with a particular focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other “minor” players. The paper develops a new segmentation model that identifies six different combinations of energy and organizational conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors surveyed participants in an online energy management and data analytics service. A 30-question online survey gathered data from 31 respondents on three kinds of infrastructure – legal, organizational, and technical.
Findings
SMEs and other minor players are generally “data poor,” lack energy managers, and have legacy meters that are read only annually or quarterly; some rent via leases that inhibit permanent alterations to the premises, including the meter.
Research limitations/implications
The research is exploratory and subject to self-selection bias. Further research is needed into: lease language, governance structures, social practices to facilitate cooperation between tenants and landlords; the scope for energy management positions in small organizations; low-cost “smart-er” meters that can be reversibly retrofitted onto existing energy meters; and the combination of these areas.
Practical implications
Organizations may need to augment a combination of legal, organizational, and technical infrastructures to enable better energy management.
Social implications
SMEs and other “minor” energy users are important to society and the economy, yet they are often overlooked by government programs. This developing data set can help policymakers include these groups in their programs.
Originality/value
This paper presents a new conceptual framework for future research and new empirical data on understudied groups.
Details
Keywords
John E. Petersen, Vladislav Shunturov, Kathryn Janda, Gavin Platt and Kate Weinberger
In residential buildings, personal choices influence electricity and water consumption. Prior studies indicate that information feedback can stimulate resource conservation…
Abstract
Purpose
In residential buildings, personal choices influence electricity and water consumption. Prior studies indicate that information feedback can stimulate resource conservation. College dormitories provide an excellent venue for controlled study of the effects of feedback. The goal of this study is to assess how different resolutions of socio‐technical feedback, combined with incentives, encourage students to conserve resources.
Design/methodology/approach
An automated data monitoring system was developed that provided dormitory residents with real‐time web‐based feedback on energy and water use in two “high resolution” dormitories. In contrast, utility meters were manually read for 20 “low‐resolution” dormitories, and data were provided to residents once per week. For both groups, resource use was monitored during a baseline period and during a two week “dorm energy competition” during which feedback, education and conservation incentives were provided.
Findings
Overall, the introduction of feedback, education and incentives resulted in a 32 percent reduction in electricity use (amounting to savings of 68,300 kWh, $5,107 and 148,000 lbs of CO−2) but only a 3 percent reduction in water use. Dormitories that received high resolution feedback were more effective at conservation, reducing their electricity consumption by 55 percent compared to 31 percent for low resolution dormitories. In a post‐competition survey, students reported that they would continue conservation practices developed during the competition and that they would view web‐based real‐time data even in the absence of competition.
Practical implications
The results of this research provide evidence that real‐time resource feedback systems, when combined with education and an incentive, interest, motivate and empower college students to reduce resource use in dormitories.
Originality/value
This is the first study to report on the effects of providing college students with real‐time feedback on resource use. The authors of this study are currently engaged in further research to determine: whether reductions in consumption can be sustained over time with and without incentives; the degree to which feedback affect attitude; and the degree to which findings are transferable to apartments and other residential settings.
Details
Keywords
Professor Tim Dixon and Professor Susan Bright and Dr Peter Mallaburn