Reducing hot water consumption with behavioral interventions

Last registered on February 07, 2023

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Reducing hot water consumption with behavioral interventions

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0004995

Initial registration date

November 07, 2019

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

November 08, 2019, 10:11 AM EST

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

Last updated

February 07, 2023, 3:14 AM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

Switzerland

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Harald Mayr

Affiliation

University of Zurich

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2019-08-12

End date

2020-03-31

Keywords

Environment & Energy

Additional Keywords

Hot water consumption, regret lottery, social comparison, spillovers

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Various interventions have been shown to effectively reduce private households’ energy consumption. We evaluate a randomized controlled trial in the context of the ‘Hot Water Challenge’, an intervention focused on hot water consumption, to address three research questions. Can regret enhance the effectiveness of traditional lotteries as a tool to incentivize households? For which type of household are social comparison interventions effective? Does an intervention focused on hot water consumption lead to spillovers on cold water or heating energy consumption?

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Mayr, Harald. 2023. "Reducing hot water consumption with behavioral interventions." AEA RCT Registry. February 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4995-1.1

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2019-09-23

Intervention End Date

2020-02-13

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Chapter 2: percent change in hot water consumption
Chapter 3: percent change in hot water consumption
Chapter 4: percent changes in hot water consumption, cold water consumption, heating energy consumption

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

"Percent change" refers to the average percent change in consumption between the baseline period (September) and the intervention periods October to January (see the attached pre-analysis plan for a formal definition).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The field experiment addresses three distinct research questions in a cross-randomized design. The Control group (20% of the sample) does not receive any intervention. The remaining 80% of the sample receive individual hot water consumption feedback, a 5% savings target, and intervention components randomized along two dimensions:

- The type of lottery (StandardLottery vs. RegretLottery, described in detail in chapter 2 of the attached pre-analysis plan)
- Social comparison (NoComparison vs. Comparison, described in chapter 3 of the attached pre-analysis plan)

The effects of these aggregated interventions, as compared to the Control group, are subject of chapter 4 of the attached pre-analysis plan.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Computer

Randomization Unit

Chapter 2: household
Chapter 3: household
Chapter 4: building

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Chapter 2: 3,814 households
Chapter 3: 3,814 households
Chapter 4: 782 buildings

Sample size: planned number of observations

Chapter 2: 3,814 households Chapter 3: 3,814 households Chapter 4: 4,775 households

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Control: 961 households
A (StandardLottery & NoComparison): 953
B (RegretLottery & NoComparison): 953
C (StandardLottery & Comparison): 954
D (RegretLottery & Comparison): 954

See the attached pre-analysis plan for descriptions of group names Control, A, B, C, D.

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB