Republicans won't be nudged into cutting home energy

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18860-republicans-wont-be-nudged-into-cutting-home-energy.html

Republicans won't be nudged into cutting home energy

14:31 05 May 2010 by Jim Giles

It was hailed as a breakthrough in the fight to cut carbon emissions. In 2007, researchers found that heavy electricity users cut their consumption http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327222.100-how-psychology-can-help-the-planet-stay-cool.html">after being told that they used more energy than their neighbours. Almost a million US households have since received similar feedback and have http://www.opower.com/Products/HomeEnergyReport.aspx">cut electricity use by an average of 2.5 per cent.

But a new study has identified a wrinkle in the plan: the feedback only seems to work with liberals. Conservatives tend to ignore it. Some even respond by using more energy.

The findings come from a study of over 80,000 Californian households, just under half of which received feedback on energy use. Overall, the technique worked: households who got the feedback cut electricity by around 2 per cent, say Dora Costa and Matthew Kahn at the University of California, Los Angeles.

But important difference emerged when Costa and Kahn looked at the political leanings of those in the survey. Homeowners who identified themselves as Republicans cut energy use by just 0.4 per cent on average. And those Republicans who showed no practical interest in environmental causes – people who did not donate to environmental groups and did not choose to pay extra for renewable energy – even increased electricity use by 0.75 per cent.

...

http://www.nber.org/papers/w15939

[Nederland]

1. I always find stuff like this interesting

It's fascinating how people's political beliefs correspond to certain behavioral traits.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Aren't "political beliefs" just an example of "behavioral traits?"

(Just sayin'...)

[rfranklin]

3. Strange isn't it? Conservatives don't believe in conserving...

unless it means, "I got mine, screw you!"

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. That's because the meaning of "conservative" has become lost

There was a time, not all that long ago really, when "conservatives" did believe in conserving.

[Lagomorph]

5. That's odd....

Just about everyone I know cuts energy consumption whenever they get the opportunity. It's simple budgeting. You invest in energy savings and reap the return as your bills go down, or at least fail to rise when they jack up the rates (yet again).

CFC and LED bulbs project superior, wide spectrum light. It's much better on the eyes.

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. Once again proving

"Statistically, 'the people I know,' make a really poor sample."

[NickB79]

6. So the party of fiscal responsibility doesn't care about saving money on home electricity bills?

:crazy:

[kristopher]

7. They care more about oneupmanship... a LOT more.

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. It's more like they don't want to do what they're told to do

"No one's gonna make me use those stupid twisty bulbs!"