A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the shift in American identity that we’re seeing pop off the pages of our Pulse studies. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of us who say buying/using eco-friendly products is an important part of our personal image. This shift in self-image coincides with another interesting shift, an actual shift in consumer behavior. As a researcher, I have had the privilege of spending multiple days with consumers from all walks of life from all over the country doing ethnographic research. I am always fascinated by the discrepancy between what people say they do and what they actually do. That’s why it’s so exciting that we’re seeing evidence of not just a shift in attitude but also a shift in behavior.

Behavior is the key difference this year. There is no doubt consumers’ behaviors are in the process of shifting. In this year’s Eco Pulse™ (soon to be released), we not only see that consumers’ attitudes and beliefs are strongly green, we also see consumers acting on those attitudes and beliefs. Ninety percent of our survey respondents think the average person should be taking concrete steps to reduce his or her environmental impact. Even more interesting is that consumers are putting their money where their mouths are. We are seeing indications of actual behavior change – changes in purchasing behavior based on the environmental record of manufacturers.

Read the full story. (The Shelton Group)

The phrase “energy efficiency” pops up all the time. Why? Because it’s a big deal. Energy efficiency is now the nation’s third-largest “electricity resource.” The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) believes this is a significant story, and we do too. Consider this: energy efficiency saves American households about $840 a year, on average.

ACEEE continues: “This paper quantifies the energy savings and other benefits from a set of energy efficiency programs and policies. We examine the combined savings from appliance and equipment efficiency standards, utility-sector energy efficiency programs, and building energy codes.”

The planet is desperate due to a lack of conservation and the overall exhaustion that has resulted from inefficient means of producing and using energy. Personal choices and technologies that improve efficiency have grown in competitiveness and adoption, though.

The ACEEE report shows that efficiency lowers pollution, and it reduces energy burdens for those most in need. It is a core strategy to halt climate change worldwide.

Read the full story. (Clean Technica)

It’s not easy working in the energy efficiency world — that wonky sphere focused on tweaking homes and appliances to get us to use less energy, and so, contribute less to climate change.

It’s a place where you see constant successes — Obama’s administration has put in place dozens of new standards to make products more energy efficient — but can’t ever seem to get much credit for them. After all, who notices the energy that they never use? Who is acutely conscious of doing more with less?

Energy efficiency takes a huge number of forms, ranging from weatherizing a house to upping the fuel efficiency of vehicles. A new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a prominent nonprofit that both researches and promotes energy efficiency, makes the case that it has truly been transformative, and in a way that is quantifiable, over the past several decades.

Read the full story. (Washington Post)

• Energy conservation, efficient lighting and building automation are now common — so when discussing a new home, it’s important to address energy efficiency.
• Newer buildings often have higher efficiency standards while being built, even though some of them don’t posses efficiency certification.
• On top of saving monthly costs, many energy-saving upgrades can lessen outside noise.
• Improve efficiency first, then add solar. Lowering energy demand could just mean less panels on the roof and less money upfront.

Read the full story. (Inman.com)

Cutting computer energy waste, particularly when desktops and laptops are doing little or no work, could save consumers billions of dollars on their energy bills and avoid millions of tons of carbon pollution annually, according to a new report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
To prove the point, NRDC and its partners conducted a demonstration project that cut the “idle power” of a desktop computer in half, using readily available off-the-shelf components and tweaking system power management settings, with zero impact on performance or the price tag (while reducing electricity bills by more than $70 over the life of the computer).

Idle power matters because modern computers spend most of their time, and energy use, when on, but not actively used such as when users are away from their desks, or when they are performing light tasks like browsing the Internet or reading email—both of which require little processing power. Computers spend from 50 percent to 77 percent of their time in idle and low-intensity active modes and draw much more power than necessary in them.

Read the full story. (NRDC)

US Moves Up to #8 Spot Behind Spain and China, Rising From #13 Ranking in 2014; 3rdInternational Scorecard Evaluates 23 Largest Energy-Consuming Countries on 35 Categories.

WASHINGTON, DC – July 20, 2016 – Germany continues to lead the world in energy efficiency, followed by Italy and Japan (tied for second place), France, and the United Kingdom (not reflecting energy-related government changes in 2016), according to the 2016 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard published today by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). New to the rankings this year are eight nations: Indonesia, Netherlands, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey.

Now in its third edition, the ACEEE report (http://aceee.org/portal/national-policy/international-scorecard) finds that the United States rose in the international rankings from #13 in 2014 to #8 in 2016.

On a scale of 100 possible points in 35 categories, the nations were ranked by ACEEE as follows: Germany (1), Italy (2, tied), Japan (2, tied), France (4), UK (5), China (6), Spain (7), South Korea (8, tied), United States (8, tied), Canada (10), Netherlands (11), Poland (12), Taiwan (13), India (14), Turkey (15), Australia (16), Russia (17), Indonesia (18), Mexico (19), Thailand (20), South Africa (21), Brazil (22), Saudi Arabia (23).

Read the ACEEE press release. 

A recent psychological study has provided suggestive evidence that when people decide to take steps to use less energy at home, and so to protect the environment, they don’t merely do so because they want to save a little bit of cash on their electricity bills. If anything, it suggests, some forms of materialistic or competitive thinking may inhibit deep or long-lasting conservation attitudes.

The study, recently published in Energy Policy and led by Zeynep Gurguc of Imperial College Business School in London, was able to show this by studying a pretty perfect test population: postgraduate students in West London, who did not have to pay anything for their energy use in their student residence halls — and, indeed, many of whom were young enough that they had no experience with energy bills at all. Therefore, any change to their at-home energy use behavior could hardly be chalked up to a desire to save a little money.

Read the full story. (Washington Post)

A motivational trifecta of environmental sensitivity, practicality and affordability is driving residential consumers and businesses to find ways to utilize more renewables and expand energy management practices, according to Deloitte’s “Resources 2016 Study – Energy Management: Navigating the Headwinds.” The report highlights the increasing influence of millennials aged 21-34, the largest and most dominant consumer group, as a dynamic force behind the shift to cleaner sources of energy – inspired by the desire to reduce their personal carbon footprints.

“The strong desire of residential consumers for clean-energy options, coupled with the increasing cost-effectiveness of solar and wind, are driving growing opportunities for utilities and businesses to explore ways to expand deployment of renewables,” said Marlene Motyka, U.S. alternative energy leader and principal, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP. “This trend is really being led by the millennial generation, whose wants and needs are not only relevant, but increasingly an influential factor in the transformation of electricity providers.”

Read the full press release. 

A motivational trifecta of environmental sensitivity, practicality and affordability is driving residential consumers and businesses to find ways to utilize more renewables and expand energy management practices, according to Deloitte’s “Resources 2016 Study – Energy Management: Navigating the Headwinds.” The report highlights the increasing influence of millennials aged 21-34, the largest and most dominant consumer group, as a dynamic force behind the shift to cleaner sources of energy – inspired by the desire to reduce their personal carbon footprints.

“The strong desire of residential consumers for clean-energy options, coupled with the increasing cost-effectiveness of solar and wind, are driving growing opportunities for utilities and businesses to explore ways to expand deployment of renewables,” said Marlene Motyka, U.S. alternative energy leader and principal, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP. “This trend is really being led by the millennial generation, whose wants and needs are not only relevant, but increasingly an influential factor in the transformation of electricity providers.”

Read the full story. (Deloitte press release)

The recently released annual Energy Pulse study from Shelton Group suggests that consumers in the market for a new home prioritize energy-efficient features over luxury items.

Eighty-five percent said they’d pay more for an Energy Star-certified home, and their preferences for individual features bore that out: more people wanted Energy Star appliances in their new homes (52%) than wanted a pool (42%), a state-of-the-art sound system (40%), or a home theater room (29%).

Read the full story. (Builder)