Promoting Energy Conservation in Mastered Metered Buildings

Abstract

Waste of fuel and electricity is known to be higher in buildings in which occupants do not pay for the utilities they use. It is often structurally impossible or financially impractical to shift utilities payments to individual consumers. Methods of promoting conservation that do not depend upon individual financial incentives are needed. In particular, it would be of value to find methods applicable to apartment buildings and garden apartment complexes. Studies have been conducted that attempt to apply financial incentives to groups of tenants: (a) By returning to tenants equal shares of part or all of the money saved by conservation, and (b) By offering monetary prizes to those groups of tenants who conserve the most. Other studies have applied participatory management procedures in order to promote the setting of conservation goals and commitment to achieving them. A study in progress attempts to shift responsibility for energy consumption from owners/managers to tenants as a group by splitting rent into two parts: (a) A fixed individual charge for amount of space occupied and (b) A proportional share of the total utilities bill for the apartment complex. Findings from these studies indicate that a meaningful level of conservation is achieved although interpretation of causal factors has been handicapped by difficulties in maintaining experimental and control treatments under the conditions of field experimentation. Some evidence suggests that most conservation is accomplished through the acceptance or initiation of modifications in the pattern of energy consumption that are made at one point in time but have a continuing impact.