Being “Green” is more often only talk

Technology: a consumption moderator or catalyzer?

As uncertain as the future is, one thing is becoming clearer than ever: our society cannot thrive solely on technological advancements nor can it survive without it. Take climate action as an example. Technology is currently leading the transition with initiatives such as carbon capture and renewable energy, but, it is also the main culprit for increases in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Hence, important synergies need be made between innovation and behavior to ensure the longevity of our species in correct conditions. Moderation in regard to environmental friendliness is, without a doubt, part of societies’ current ideologies, but to what extent does it translate into action?

As it turns out, very little.

“92% of people say they want to live a sustainable life, but only 16% are actively changing their behaviours”- Kantar Foundational Study.

There is often a difference between what people say they would like to do and what they actually do. For example, we might want to exercise more over the festive season but fail to do so. This is known as the intention-action gap. Moral licensing, which is the self-justification of bad behavior using other good behavior (as introduced in a previous article), shows one of the ways of coping with this on a day-to-day basis. Here, the article aims to be more concrete in offering a solution on simple yet effective processes linking technology and some basic psychology to help us bridge the intention-action gap and be more energy (and money) efficient.

There are hundreds of behavioral solutions to this too-famous intention-action gap. The one proposed here is meant to tackle climate changes’ unique problems, namely its stealth and invisibility. Climate change has been able to go unnoticed for some time because its effects are dissipated in time and location. For example, emitting CO2 will not cause a direct impact at the location and time in was produced. This means that (as is with the current pandemic) we rely heavily on external proof to measure our impact, whether it is positive or negative.

As it is getting colder and we decide to throw on that extra sweater during winter to lower our heating consumption, we have no way of grasping how this affects the environment and thus no positive reinforcement encouraging us to continue. Additionally, our electricity bills — traditionally made to carry identical amounts each month for budgeting reasons — will only reflect a financial difference at the end of the billing year. Examples like these can be found around various daily consumptions areas, from our use of hot water in the bathroom to our fuel consumption when driving, from our usage of smart phones to our toasters.

The behavioral solution is based around filling-in the lack of information we have about our day-to-day consumption. To do this, measurements must be made. In most cars and on most phones, consumption levels can already be found, and in our living spaces smart readers can be installed to measure electricity usage of appliances. For that reason, the development and inclusion of the Internet of things (IoT) will be revolutionary. Take the example of smarts displays installed in the showers at a Swiss hotel. In 2018 an experiment was conducted using smart water readers which displayed in the users shower and showed the amount of water and energy, real-time, that they were consuming. When compared to the control group, who did not receive any feedback on water and energy usage, the treatment group saw their energy consumption decrease by 11.4%.

So, the concept is to create a feedback loop using consumption measurements and to make salient comparisons as to whether the measurement is relatively good or bad. This then allows operant conditioning to function. If the comparison shows a positive trend then we are positively rewarded, and the behavior will, in turn, be repeated or enhanced further. In the case the comparison produces negative feedback the behavior will naturally be reduced or stopped.

Feedback loops can be taken further to increasing their effectiveness. In most cases reducing consumption is good for the earth and also for the wallet, and by portraying consumption levels directly in terms of money we can increase the positive impact of the feedback. Additionally, consumption levels can be compared with others (for example those in the same neighborhood) thereby adding a social feature to the consumption information.

Synergies between technology and consumption information is an area of innovation we must take advantage of to ease into more moderation. In fact, we have seen that our will alone simply isn’t enough to face the lifestyle changes required to face the great environmental challenges ahead of us. Relying only on technology to save society as we know it is a gamble we should not be ready to make. Nevertheless, we need to make the best of the technology we have at our disposal today and decide what to prioritize on in the future. To do so, it is important to realize the benefits digital innovations like those linked to the IoT can have in measuring and conceptualizing consumption habits to enable us into action.