Daft.ie-TCD Energy Cost Labeling Trial

Last registered on November 27, 2019
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Daft.ie-TCD Energy Cost Labeling Trial
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005072
Initial registration date
November 27, 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 27, 2019, 10:52 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Ireland
Region
National

Primary Investigator

Name
James Carroll
Affiliation
Trinity College Dublin
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ronan Lyons
PI Affiliation
Trinity College Dublin
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Eleanor Denny
PI Affiliation
Trinity College Dublin
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-01-01
End date
2019-03-01
Keywords
Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
Building Energy Rating, Energy Cost Forecast, Energy Efficiency Premium, Randomized Controlled Trial
JEL code(s)
D12, Q40, C93
Secondary IDs
Horizon 2020 723741
Abstract
Property advertisements were supplemented with a new property-specific energy cost (annual) label using details from the property’s Building Energy Rating (kWh and size) and a common energy price. This label was randomly assigned to half the counties in Ireland (with one exception: we impose Dublin and surrounding counties to the treatment group). The analysis period started in January 2017 and the new labels were applied between March 2018 and March 2019
External Link(s)
Description of project

Registration Citation

Citation
Carroll, James, Eleanor Denny and Ronan Lyons. 2019. "Daft.ie-TCD Energy Cost Labeling Trial ." AEA RCT Registry. November 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5072-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We added one year energy cost forecast labels to property advertisements on Ireland's largest property sales/rental advertising website - daft.ie. This label was created using the property's energy efficiency level (kWh), size and energy price. Information was displayed on an EU-style energy efficiency label and was property-specific (each property energy cost was compared to similarly sized properties).
Intervention Start Date
2018-03-01
Intervention End Date
2019-03-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Final property sales price
2. Time-to-sell
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Final sales price was sourced from an external website - The Irish Property Price Register
Time-to-sell is the days between advertisement date and closing date

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The energy cost label was randomly assigned to half the counties in Ireland, with one exception - we imposed Dublin and surrounding counties to the treatment group.
Experimental Design Details
NR
Randomization Method
Randomization using Microsoft excel
Randomization Unit
County
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
26 counties in Ireland
Sample size: planned number of observations
85,287 property advertisements
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment - 53,065
Control - 32,222
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Trial was conducted nationally for one year across all areas and properties - power calculation not needed
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
Trial description (extended)
Document Type
other
Document Description
NR
File
Trial description (extended)

MD5: 4c8cb445a22ed5a6284631370b3c1cdb

SHA1: ff84ae928333e637c8a05d6bf4b9583250147737

Uploaded At: November 21, 2019

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Trinity College Dublin Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2017-01-01
IRB Approval Number
20170124
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Estimation+strategy.docx

MD5: b451cd723555422e4cd94c035ad1b1a0

SHA1: aab63f141095b7906f73108e602adde662c91320

Uploaded At: November 27, 2019

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
March 01, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
March 01, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
26 counties of Ireland
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
85,287 properties/advertisements
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Control - 32,222 Treatment - 53,065
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

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Program Files

Program Files
Yes
Program Files URL
https://www.eleanordenny.org/
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials

Description
The online property field trial in Ireland explores how adding annual energy cost forecasts (based on the

property’s energy rating, size, and energy prices) to property advertisements influences sales prices and rents.

For the final sales price (final
Citation
Carroll, James, Eleanor Denny, and Ronan Lyons. "Report on Field Trial Evidence on the Effectiveness of Providing Information on Energy Costs on Energy Related Decisions in Households," February 05, 2019.
URL
https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukusers/user-26722815/documents/5c616bc6a6637aNO8VCA/D4.1%20Field%20trials%20UPDATED%20FINAL.pdf