Alaska Electric Light and Power recorded a drop in electricity usage of nearly 40 percent between mid-April, when the avalanche took place, and the end of May.

What is our motivation to better use electricity? Answer: absolute necessity. Have you considered why many European cities are more advanced than the US in this sustainability movement? Again, absolute necessity as many European countries charge by the peak demand.  Europeans have to select how much electrical power they will use.  The rates increase dramatically going from 3kw to 5kw peak demand.  Considering most dryers use 5kw, it’s no wonder Europeans prefer the solar dryer (the clothesline).  We can see some similarities in the Alaskan lifestyle.

While living within the breathtaking landscape, South East Alaskan citizens are encouraged to use innovative technologies and make adjustment to their own energy behavior to help the region live within the capabilities of their existing hydroelectric power plant capacities or risk paying exorbitantly high electrical rates from electricity created by diesel power generators.

Juneau, Alaska got a wake up call regarding just how crucial it’s inexpensive hydroelectric power was when an avalanche rendered it unavailable in April 2008.   Overnight, Juneau’s 30,000 residents saw their electrical bills increase by a factor of 5 as the town had to rely on it’s back up diesel generator’s to create the power that it needed.  This scene is replayed throughout communities in Southeast Alaska every winter as electrical power companies have to supplement the power to their customers.  The hydroelectric plants lose some capability because of freezing water flow just at the time when the residents need for electricity increases due to the much shorter daylight hours.

It was amazing that Juneau’s 30,000 residents were able to decrease their energy consumption by 40% in just two weeks (http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2008/06/18/powering-down-in-juneau/).  And there was nothing “virtuous” about their actions.  It was all economics.   Many of Southeast Alaska residents make the lionshare of their income from May to September and primarily live off their earnings the remainder of the year.  Come April, their bank accounts are pretty lean.   They certainly felt a 5x increase in their electric bills far more acutely than they would have had it happened another time of the year.   They were able to decrease their electrical use by things we have all been admonished to do - but most of us just never really take it that seriously.  When an electric bill most often represents less than 5% of an average wage earner’s  monthly take home pay, and that is with no conservation measures, where is the incentive to really save?   Jump that to 25% of a person’s monthly take home pay, and there are plenty of reasons to conserve.

And conserve they did - Juneau was able to reduce it’s electrical usage by 40%.  They took the standard measures of unplugging electronics when not in use, converting to compact fluorescent bulbs, better insulating their hot water heaters and using less hot water.   But the town also realized that they were wasting a tremendous amount of electricity in the pumps to move water - for purification, delivery, sewage treatment.   By encouraging people to conserve water, they actually made substantial reductions in the town electricity required.

This was not a public service announcement campaign.  Each and every citizen of Juneau was incentivized to use less energy because the cost of creating it had become more than what they were willing to pay.   Basic supply and demand economics at work.

www.OPOWER.com

Two years ago, Cheetah Power realized that motivating the individual is absolutely necessary to reach our goal of energy self-sufficiency for all.  We’ve stumbled upon likeminded efforts along this journey, one of which is OPOWER. 

OPOWER is an industry leader in Energy Efficiency and a stellar example in achieving the same goal set forth by Cheetah Power – energy awareness within millions of people.

They employ an effective way to get people to pay attention to this energy conservation / energy independence message and respond favorably. Their approach is awesome!  The power of “normative messaging” is essentially tapping that old familiar emotion of not being left behind or made to feel less efficient. Yes, keeping up with the Jones’ is still a motivator toward action. 

Experts in energy efficiency already know that motivating customers to take energy conservation action is a big challenge because making an impact requires large scale citizen participation. OPOWER’s approach includes a colorful and friendly energy report that is sent directly to utility customers. Their new utility bills offer clear visibility into how energy is being used right in their neighborhood and compares neighbor’s efficiency.  Internally, people aspire to do their very best, as good as or better than the neighbor – someone who is watching. The neighborhood is the targeted attention grabber. Marketing professionals know that if information is not relevant, people won’t pay attention. While the OPOWER utility bill has the customer’s attention, the report makes it easy to take action by suggestion sensible steps that anyone can perform at minimal cost and effort: adjusting thermostat at night, use of large appliances during off-peak hours, or changing air filters, etc. Officials at OPOWER believe that motivating one million households to make simple adjustments in their daily energy consumption will save enough energy to power 25,000 homes!

OPOWER is engaging the customer and using customer data analytics to leveraging behavioral science.  Change happens when people really want to change. How can we continue their success?