Presented by: Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez, PhD, The Garrison Institute April 5, 2012 at UNCC Center City Campus

The Garrison Institute’s mission is to apply the transformative power of contemplation to today’s pressing social and environmental concerns, helping build a more compassionate, resilient future. Specifically, the presentation discussed how human behavior and patterns impact energy consumption both in commercial and residential settings and how a community can drive change in energy use by developing an approach to raise awareness among individuals as to daily energy consumption.

The presentation started by discussing how energy is a very “invisible” commodity that drives significant waste of resources as many people do not consider the impact of energy that is used daily. Dr. Erhardt- Martinez took a poll of the audience to determine how many people were aware of their energy consumption in their own homes on a monthly basis. The results were expected as only two members of an audience of approximately 30 people were able to identify how much energy their households use on a monthly basis, while almost everyone in the room could identify the dollar amount of their monthly power bill. The discussion continued onto the implications on a more macro level, for example the energy consumption of an entire community or an office building.

One common misconception that was discussed related to the rise in energy efficient appliances and the presumption that using this new technology results in overall energy savings. In practice, more energy is often consumed as the efficiencies gained lower costs, allowing consumers to have more appliances or run them longer.

Dr. Ehrhardt-Martinez believes the focus should not be on technology alone but on people to create an “energy revolution” and thus reduce energy consumption. She provided information on studies that had been performed comparing different locations, one with newer energy efficient technology and the other with an older infrastructure. The results of these studies prove that it is not just the building that drives lower energy consumption as building occupants play a significant role in this initiative as well. With this fact pattern clearly presented, the focus shifted to opportunities that could be provided to motivate individuals to change their behavior when it comes to energy consumption.

Dr. Ehrhardt-Martinez walked the audience through steps to make energy consumption reduction programs as effective as possible within a community, both residential and commercial. These programs can be directed to a single family neighborhood or tenants in a commercial building that use the space for offices. Dr. Ehrhardt-Martinez discussed the TIME Model which is defined as Targeting, Informing, Motivating, Empowering and Enabling.

Targeting was described as creating people-centered initiatives. What group of people is your program looking to target? The next step in the TIME model is Informing. This entails providing individuals or businesses with an understanding of the upside, for example the savings that could be generated by engaging in an energy consumption reduction program Dr. Ehrhardt-Martinez stated that without the proper information, individuals may not be aware of the issue or motivated to change.

Motivation follows Informing in the TIME model. Motivating should move past just financial incentives and focus on social norms, competition or individual goals. For example, providing a homeowner with a bill that notes the energy consumption on average of others in the community as well as the energy consumption of the neighborhood’s most energy efficient individuals could be a good motivator to change one’s behavior when it comes to making a conscious effort to turn off lights and other appliances when they are not in use.

Finally, the E in the TIME model represents Empowering and Enabling. This was defined by Dr. Ehrhardt-Martinez as removing the financial and structural barriers and providing individuals better choice sets or creating supportive communities that enable individuals to change their behavior as it relates to energy consumption.

By Lauren Spegal, an audit manager with Grant Thornton.  She has been with GT since her start in public accounting eight years ago. Spegal’s focus is in the Construction, Real Estate, and Hospitality industry group.