Using Social Norms to Decrease Energy Use in Public Housing

Last registered on October 03, 2018

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Using Social Norms to Decrease Energy Use in Public Housing

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0003349

Initial registration date

October 02, 2018

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

October 03, 2018, 2:28 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

New York, NY

Primary Investigator

Name

Mary Clair Turner

Affiliation

Office of Evaluation Sciences

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Michael DiDomenico

PI Affiliation

Office of Evaluation Sciences

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Michael Hand

PI Affiliation

Office of Evaluation Sciences

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Mary Steffel

PI Affiliation

Office of Evaluation Sciences

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2018-08-01

End date

2019-04-01

Keywords

Environment & Energy

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

The Office of Evaluation Sciences (OES) in the General Services Administration, the Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) are collaborating to develop and test an intervention to encourage residents of Federally assisted public housing developments to reduce household energy use, thereby reducing Federal expenditures on public housing utilities.

The intervention will consist of mailing a series of flyers at 2-week intervals during August and September of 2018. Each flyer will feature descriptive feedback on energy use, a comparison to other NYCHA residents, injunctive feedback (e.g., “great, good, below average”), and an energy-saving tip. Additionally, some mailings will include a coloring sheet for children featuring the energy-saving tip of the week. The intervention will be printed in both English and Spanish.

Units will be individually randomized within blocks to either the intervention (treatment arm) or no letters (control arm). Blocks are created based on development and unit size. The research team will then estimate the effects of the intervention on average daily energy use (in kilowatt-hours, kWh) for units sent flyers compared to average daily energy use for units not sent flyers, as measured by Wireless Energy Modules (WEMs) in each housing unit.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

DiDomenico, Michael et al. 2018. "Using Social Norms to Decrease Energy Use in Public Housing." AEA RCT Registry. October 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3349-1.0

Former Citation

DiDomenico, Michael et al. 2018. "Using Social Norms to Decrease Energy Use in Public Housing." AEA RCT Registry. October 03. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3349/history/35168

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention will consist of mailing a series of four letters at 2-week intervals during August and September of 2018. Each letter will feature descriptive feedback on energy use, a comparison to other NYCHA residents, injunctive feedback (e.g., “great, good, below average”), an energy-saving tip, and the weather forecast for that week. Additionally, some mailings will include a coloring sheet for children featuring the energy-saving tip of the week. The intervention will be printed in both English and Spanish.

Intervention Start Date

2018-08-17

Intervention End Date

2018-10-02

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The primary outcomes are average daily energy use during two outcome periods: (a) one week after expected receipt of the first letter (August 22 - 28, 2018) and (b) eight weeks after expected receipt of the first letter (August 22 - October 16, 2018).

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Units were individually randomized within blocks to either the intervention (treatment arm) or no letters (control arm). Blocks were created based on development and unit size.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Apartment units

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

4726 apartment units

Sample size: planned number of observations

4726 apartment units

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

2363 apartment units control and 2360 apartment units treatment

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

The minimum detectable effect sizes for the main outcomes are between a 2.0 and 2.3 percentage point change in average daily energy use based on expected analytic sample sizes between 3,000 and 4,000 apartment units. These calculations assume mean average daily energy use of 16.9 kwh and standard deviation of 11.83 kwh and expected r-squared values from baseline covariates of 0.9.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB