Recommendations of Potential Interventions that Could Motivate Reductions in Residential Energy Use at the Husky Village Housing Complex, UW Bothell

Abstract

Husky Village currently has the highest energy consumption per person o n the UWB campus , which has made finding means to reduce energy use in this facility a high priority . T his study was designed to contribute to efforts to lower the energy footprint of Husky Village . Primarily, the study sought to test discrete interventions to moti vate a decrease in energy use among residents of Husky Village following promising methods used in the literature . I sought to expl ore how two potential intervention processes, providing feedback on energy consumption and encouraging goal setting, could i mpact subsequent energy use , and developed a factorial experiment to test the efficacy of these methods alone and in combination . Unfortunately, only one unit of students opted to participate in the intervention and survey . Although it is possible that s tudents reduced their energy use in response to the notice regarding the study alone, no significant differences in energy use over the course of the study were seen among the treatment groups . Secondarily, this study contributes a fine scale analysis of t he electricity metering data from the apartments that could be used for future administrative interventions. I found that three apartments ha d un usual energy consumption , which should be investigated further by campus staff . Re commendation s are made for mo re successfully engaging students in assessments and interventions to encourage participation in energy conservation efforts at Husky Village. In addition, suggestions are made for policies that could reduce energy consumption over the short term.