bEhaVioral Insgihts anD Effective eNergy policy acTions

ended

Energy efficiency lies at the very core of policy interventions for energy security, energy poverty and climate change, while its promoted by technological innovations and investments. However, it seems that these technologies are not adopted by consumers at least to the extent that the assumption of rational behavior would predict. This energy efficiency gap, the difference between expected and realized energy consumption, costs to national economies both in terms of monetary values and emissions. Significant role in mitigating this issue is the exploration of the drivers of individual behavior. There is tremendous opportunity and need for policy-relevant research that utilizes randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental techniques to estimate the returns to energy efficiency investments and the adoption level of energy efficiency programs. EVIDENT proposes several different case studies under the framework of randomized control trials (RCTs) and surveys in order to define the main drivers of individuals’ decision making and to establish new relationships between energy consumption and other fields such as financial literacy. A large number of participants, well stratified samples, innovative design of experiments and state of-the-art econometric models that will be employed in EVIDENT and will contribute in robust estimates and subsequent policy measures for effective policy interventions.