What are Our Motivations to Conserve Energy and Why it is Important?
Announcement posted by AGL Energy Ltd 07 Mar 2013
What motivates you to conserve energy, and if you don’t, why not? Are you an eco-warrior whose home runs on renewable energies, do you make an effort to buy energy efficient appliances, is energy saving simply a matter of switching off the light when you leave a room, or does energy conservation not enter your consciousness at all? What are the factors that influence the decisions you make about your energy usage? These are all questions that a number of governmental think-tanks and research groups have been pondering as we face a potential energy crisis. The central question is, what drives people’s behaviour when it comes to energy consumption and how can that be influenced?
Financial
There is no doubt that the more energy you conserve, the more money you will save. It’s simple economics - consume more, pay more. There are two sides to this - conserving energy by making behavioural changes (e.g. only switching on the dishwasher or washing machine when you have a full load or turning your thermostat down by a degree or two in the winter months) and achieving the same result but through using energy efficient appliances. A combination of both will save the most energy, and therefore the most amount of money.
Environmental Knowledge and Values
The more we understand how our unquenchable thirst for energy is affecting our planet, the more likely we might be to change our behaviour and want to strive to conserve energy for the greater good of us mankind, Earth and our collective future. Of course, some people don’t believe in climate change, but the majority of us can see that human impact has at least to some degree contributed towards global warming. Perhaps, in this way, education is key.
Habit
If you were raised in a household which actively conserved energy, and that behaviour was instilled in you as a child, you are far more likely to conserve energy in your home as an adult and set that example for your own children. Habits are hard to break so it is vital to raise our children to conserve energy - that way it will be a natural and unforced behaviour and we might just help to bring up a generation for whom saving energy is a way of life.
Visual and Tangible Change
Because the benefits of energy conservation are sometimes not always visible straight away, and many behavioural changes seem to make such little impact, it can be useful to be able to see tangible results. In this way, energy monitors can be hugely motivational when it comes to energy conservation as they allow you to view your electricity usage in units, cost and even carbon emissions in real time. Designed to help you keep track of the amount of electricity you use and how much different appliances use, they can be incredibly beneficial in setting goals and having the satisfaction of reaching targets.
There are a number of motivations to conserve energy, all of which can be further encouraged by energy suppliers themselves. As we start to truly understand just what our current global energy consumption means for us and our planet, more people are motivated by doing the right thing for the environment. The fact that there is also a financial incentive for doing so is an added bonus!
Financial
There is no doubt that the more energy you conserve, the more money you will save. It’s simple economics - consume more, pay more. There are two sides to this - conserving energy by making behavioural changes (e.g. only switching on the dishwasher or washing machine when you have a full load or turning your thermostat down by a degree or two in the winter months) and achieving the same result but through using energy efficient appliances. A combination of both will save the most energy, and therefore the most amount of money.
Environmental Knowledge and Values
The more we understand how our unquenchable thirst for energy is affecting our planet, the more likely we might be to change our behaviour and want to strive to conserve energy for the greater good of us mankind, Earth and our collective future. Of course, some people don’t believe in climate change, but the majority of us can see that human impact has at least to some degree contributed towards global warming. Perhaps, in this way, education is key.
Habit
If you were raised in a household which actively conserved energy, and that behaviour was instilled in you as a child, you are far more likely to conserve energy in your home as an adult and set that example for your own children. Habits are hard to break so it is vital to raise our children to conserve energy - that way it will be a natural and unforced behaviour and we might just help to bring up a generation for whom saving energy is a way of life.
Visual and Tangible Change
Because the benefits of energy conservation are sometimes not always visible straight away, and many behavioural changes seem to make such little impact, it can be useful to be able to see tangible results. In this way, energy monitors can be hugely motivational when it comes to energy conservation as they allow you to view your electricity usage in units, cost and even carbon emissions in real time. Designed to help you keep track of the amount of electricity you use and how much different appliances use, they can be incredibly beneficial in setting goals and having the satisfaction of reaching targets.
There are a number of motivations to conserve energy, all of which can be further encouraged by energy suppliers themselves. As we start to truly understand just what our current global energy consumption means for us and our planet, more people are motivated by doing the right thing for the environment. The fact that there is also a financial incentive for doing so is an added bonus!
Media Contacts
Rattandeep Singh
Digital Marketing Consultant
