Survey of Homeowners’ Motivations for the Adoption of Energy Efficiency Measures: Evaluating a Holistic Energy Assessment Program

Abstract

Homeowners increasingly have the potential to drive deeper demand-side energy reductions, but they experience multifaceted barriers, from the financial to behavioral, which must be addressed holistically. Research has shown that targeting an individual barrier, such as rebates, is insufficient to overcome energy efficiency barriers for all homeowners. The National Energy Leadership Corps (NELC) was developed and implemented using consumer energy segmentations to holistically address the heterogeneous nature of homeowners’ behaviors and the varying motivators that drive energy investments. A survey of homeowners participating in the NELC program between 212 and 215 was designed and deployed, measuring adoption rates of recommended measures, homeowners’ perceptions of motivators, and the implementation of self-identified efficiency measures. The results of two-sample hypothesis tests revealed that homeowners’ perceived lack of skill may have potentially inhibited adoption of envelope and heating, ventilation and air conditioning measures, even though these measures were statistically indistinguishable from perceptions of cost savings and improved comfort (p-values less than .5). Further, a chi-square test of independence showed envelope improvements were correlated with homeowners’ budgets, time, information, and prioritization (p-value less than .5). In response, two recommendations are presented: (1) a policy for the standardization of publicly available energy conservation program reporting and (2) re-exploration of motivators and barriers for investment in energy efficiency.