Nudging electricity consumption within firms. Feedbacks from a field experiment

Abstract : Energy consumption is a serious environmental issue due to global warming and pollution. Public policies are developed in this context. Behavioral economics pays particular attention to the use of nudges. A nudge is a form of policy aimed at changing individual behaviors without using financial incentives or order, for example by providing information to individuals so as to conduct behaviors in the direction desired by the policy-maker. Interestingly “private nudges” can be imagined for companies. Many economists and psychologists have studied the impact of nudges on households’ proenvironmental behaviors. Yet, studies focusing on nudging employees’ energy use are rare. The objective of our paper is precisely to test the effect of 3 nudges on employees’ energy consumption with the help of a field experiment. The first nudge alerts individuals on good energy consumption practices. The second one stresses the responsible use of energy regarding environmental stakes. Finally, a “social comparison” nudge is used informing employees on others’ energy consumption in firms participating to the experiment. The field experiment is conducted with 50 French companies’ sites. These companies are equipped with “Building Management System”, allowing obtaining a daily electricity consumption. The experiment is conducted over 12. The data collected are subjected to statistical and econometric processing allowing us determining the impact of the various nudges tested.