Quick! How much energy did you use for heating last year? When was the last time you replaced the weather stripping on your windows? What is the vampire load of your television? What kind of power plants or renewable sources does your utility company use to generate power for your home?
If you were stumped by these questions, you are not alone. In 2002, the National Environmental Education & Training Foundation conducted a survey of energy management and conservation in the United States. The Foundation found that although 90 percent of U.S. citizens report that conserving energy is important and 3 in 4 Americans self-reported that they had a “fair” amount of knowledge about energy issues, most Americans failed a simple “Energy IQ” Quiz—only 12% of survey participants passed the test, and only 1% answered at least 9 of 10 basic energy questions correctly! Even with the heightened media attention on energy and climate change issues over the last several years, the average American still does not understand some of the most basic energy and climate concepts. For example, in a survey conducted in early 2011, nearly half (47%) of survey respondents incorrectly answered that fossil fuels are the “fossilized remains of dinosaurs.” The correct answer is that energy in fossil fuels comes from photosynthesis by plants over millions of years.
Discouraging statistics aside, the important takeaway from these surveys is that most Americans know enough about energy to understand that they should not be wasting it! So then how do we go about conserving energy the most effectively? What activities should be curbed and when it is most beneficial to do so? Is there a link between energy monitoring and energy conservation? Let’s look at some new opportunities for individuals and households to monitor their energy consumption…
Facebook Unveils New ‘Social Energy’ Application
Just last month, Facebook, Opower, and the National Resources Defense Council came together to create an app to address the energy awareness deficit. The yet-to-be-named ‘social energy’ app is meant to increase the amount of time that Americans spend thinking about energy. At a recent unveiling of the new app, the founder of Opower, Alex Laskey, emphasized that the average citizen in the industrialized world spends just six minutes thinking about their energy use each year. Most people, he half-jokingly added, “spend more time thinking about Justin Bieber.” The app will allow Facebook’s 800 million users to post their energy use to their “wall” and compare their usage with the national average and with friends.
But will it work? The social energy application appears to be a novel idea, but many energy experts are wondering whether it will really affect change. Does information regarding energy usage actually effect energy consumption? The short answer is: if the app really catches on, most likely yes!
Consider the new smart meter technology that allows the two-way transmission of electricity data. Homeowners that have Smart Meters can access their hourly consumption of energy online, and will eventually be able to monitor and alter their energy consumption in near real-time. I’ll be able to fire up an app on my iPhone and see, for instance, a spike in energy use because my boyfriend has left the lights on the kitchen and a laptop plugged in. Quantifying the impact of smart metering on homes is a challenge, particularly in the U.S. where not all meters are “smart” yet and more than half of all Americans (56%) say they have not heard the term “smart grid.”
On the positive side, given the large number of people that access Facebook daily, it seems likely that the number of people who track their household energy consumption on a regular basis will only increase with the introduction of the application. The social energy app is also innovative because it is, you guessed it… social! Users will be able to access a Friend Comparison Feature to share energy-saving tips and tidbits with like-minded virtual buddies, join in on conversations about home energy use via the Facebook Newsfeed, and participate in online contests.
One other advantage of the social energy app is its ability to generate recommendations for how to conserve energy. Sure, my smart meter account may tell me that my energy is spiking at a certain time of the day, but I want to know what I can do about it. As Opower founder Laskey notes, “there are hundreds of different ways to save energy, and the best approach will be completely different for different people.” The app will have the capability to recommend energy efficient products and energy conservation tips to people based on their previous purchases, much like Amazon recommends books and Netflix recommends films.
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partnership page on FacebookThis recommendation feature will be key if Americans want to really save money. Consider that eight in ten Americans (84%) say they turn off lights and appliances when not in use to conserve energy; six in ten (60%) say they replace incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs and use power strips; over half (53%) say they purchase Energy Star™ appliances and reduce hot water usage (51%). These are all fairly well known and common energy-saving practices. Where advanced recommendations can really help, then, is when it comes to lesser known and more complex tasks such as weather stripping, sealing infiltration gaps, installing new heating and cooling units, or adding film to single-pane windows. The number of Americans who cited these actions as possible energy saving options was only 11%.
So far, OPower’s approach appears to be working to increase awareness of the vast assortment of possible energy conservation measures. OPower says that: 96% of people who receive their home energy usage information find it to be useful; 65% share the information with their friends and neighbors; and most tellingly, in areas where the scheme has been implemented, purchases of less publicized energy-saving products such as new insulation, air conditioning units, and heaters, have increased between 35 and 60 percent.
When we stop and think about it, we realize that we are using energy all the time. That’s why the social energy app will be so useful. The more that we talk about energy and realize how much of it we are using, the more saving energy will become an obvious and intuitive part of our lives.
