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Cool-Factor Predicted To Spur Energy Conservation
An anonymous reader writes "Panelists at a recent technology expo argued about how to motivate people to conserve energy, dragging out all the usual suspects, from financial incentives to emotion appeals to 'save the planet.' However, one panelist trumped the status quo by noting that adding the 'cool factor' could make energy conservation fun via apps on smartphones and tablets. By making energy conservation as fun as a video game, the fickle on-again, off-again of human nature might just be overcome."
Will I be able to use a Doom interface to shutoff the lights in my house?
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
Are they implying that Apple will be designing the new energy conservation technology?
...are much more energy efficient then normal phones!
Obviously, Blizzard should do it! After all, aren't they fighting Azeroth's version of Global Warming right now too?
I doubt population control was even mentioned. Soon the crap from humans will be causing too much methane, no matter how much we converse it will be futile.
We have this stuff already... the cute little thing on the dashboard that shows more green leaves the slower you go in the car.
I get assailed by ads everyday. I don't need them on my paid for devices.
There's no need for clever new strategies to promote adoption. If you want to sell something just give it sex appeal. Sex sells. Always has, always will.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
Nah, that'll never work.
Dog is my co-pilot.
Maybe times have changed since I was a kid, but saving money to spend it on something I actually wanted, rather than putting gas in the car or paying for a power bill.
Sig not found.
... is not even a week old. http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2286#comic
I don't think the effect is huge, but since i switched from a Rav4 to a Prius i've noticed that my driving habits have gotten a little more conservative, and i think the main factor is the little current and cumulative "miles per gallon" readings on the display. Trying to keep it above 45 mpg can be kinda fun, and it really doesn't seem to affect how quickly i get anywhere very much.
I used to gun the motor a lot more in the Rav4 just cause it was fun and there wasn't much reason not to (the difference in mileage and thus the difference in how often i had to fill up seemed pretty marginal) but now that i've got direct and immediate feedback playing with the mpg gauges is also fun, even if in an entirely different way, and now it's the marginal difference in time that i'm dismissing rather than the marginal difference in mileage. (And i still drive faster than i probably ought to, and i still will gun my car from time to time just for the fun of it, just nowhere near as often.)
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Currently there is the "Smug-Factor" running energy conservation as in "I'm better than you because I have a green air-conditioner, light my house with compact-florescent bulbs, drink green-tea and drive a hybrid SUV"
Maybe we could do one of those rapping songs the kids are so keen on these days?
MIM. That is all it takes to the games begin.
"By making energy conservation as fun as a video game, the fickle on-again, off-again of human nature might just be overcome."
Because people never change their idea of what is cool....
P0RN is capable of holding male attention indefinitely. All light switches should be shaped like a clitoris or nipple, and emit moans as they are turned off.
Just remember though - don't stick your tongue in the light socket.
Show me the money!!!
Economic power allows women to choose the size of their family, and experience shows that population growth levels out when a country achieves a certain level of prosperity. Condoms, birth control pills (synthetic hormones - bad for long-term health of the woman, but good for temporarily preventing conception or implantation), vasectomies (or wearing a testical-heater/nut-cup), etc - lots of ways to prevent babies. Even "Natural Family Planning" works pretty well, because there's only a few days a month that a woman is actually fertile.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
How about utilizing currently wasted energy instead of trying to get people to conserve it? Sell the idea by demonstrating increased stability and the ability to use more energy while paying less in the long run.
For example, a new office building could be made so that all its walls and roof are covered with solar panels, underneath which water pipes run - light is converted to extra electricity and hot water. Start a program to outfit regular house roofs with solar panels, too, and try to get people to get and drive electric cars in cities to ease the load on the electrical grid and make the air clean to breathe.
Current efforts to get people to "be green" seem to be marketed by trying to appeal to people's sense of responsibility, while largely ignoring the tangible benefits of doing so. These programs have the appearance of requiring extra work on part of the participants while, at most, providing peace of mind and at worst requiring expenses while not really being good for the environment (such as adding ethanol to gasoline).
You'd think people would jump at a chance to save on power and heating costs (even given a sizable up-front investment requirement) and enjoying the health benefits of having cleaner air - I just haven't seen a single campaign proclaiming this.
When I commute, I want to be able to glance at a gasoline usage meter and see how much I've used up to that point and how it compares to the same point on previous commutes. Then I can compete against myself, similar to the "ghost" in Mario Kart.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
After living most of my life in a community where things like recycling were common practice my the vast majority of it's citizens, I moved to a large city in "the southwest". The trendy society page people have just, in the last two years, started to talk about "going green", recycling, etc. as if they were "the latest thing". Yeah, it's lame, but if that's what it takes to get people on board, fine. Everything that helps to disarm the conservative, "fuck your grandchildren and their environment" types, when they try to paint environmentalism as some commie-liberal evil plot, is a welcome addition to the dialogue.
Is that they are focused on the irrelevant. The biggest CO2 contribution of *anyone* is coming from car travel, just about the sum of all other CO2 expenditures on average - but since electric cars are
a) overly expensive due to the cost of batteries
b) total crap if you need to get anywhere over a certain distance due to the inability to "charge a tank" quickly, the idea is to improve public transports and have people use cars for long-distance travels for which other options suck.
Second important one is excessive house heating. That one has an appeal too - don't heat as much , and/or insulate your house, and you'll save money, and quite a lot - honestly I think it's one of the few cases where all that is needed is to inform people , because along with enviroment it brings a clear benefit to them.
Anything else, from charger unplugging to lights out/whatever is trying to douse a fire with teaspoons of water.
I thought Idiocracy is just a movie, but when we really have to sell a sustainable way of life with coolness, I start to doubt that. On the other hand, this would make Europeans pretty cool compared to people from the US. ;-)
It's been demonstrated tons of times that when you make something fun, people go for it.
Just look at Volkswagen's The Fun Theory project for proof.
~Syberz
Asking people to spend money in order to save money doesn't make sense when they have already been robbed by everyone that sells them their daily needs.
"Get a new furnace... even though your gas and grocery bills already make that impossible." is a pretty sill campaign.
I wish special interests could be intellectualy honest for once.
a few degrees, unless the landlord pays for your electricity , which is bloody unlikely, pays off now, even if you don't own the house. It is a matter of choosing applicable strategy based on where you live
And nobody was talking about solar panels or other overly expensive methods anyway - polystyrene plates for wall insulation are reasonably cheap, and they do deliver.
Marketing is hard. It has taken decades and great expense to learn how to successfully market unneeded junk to people. It will also take a very long time to learn how to market to the whole public to use less of something that they perceive a benefit. One effort was made in California to provide on your electric bill how your energy usage compared to your typical neighbors to try and generate competition. While many people did respond well in the short term there was always one outlier that increased their usage. Wisely, the sociologist went back and looked for common factors among those that increased their usage. They found the population was well described by two factors: they did not buy green power and they were republicans. Was this a case of conspicuous consumptions or a political statement? When this population read their bill why did they go over to the wall and turn on a light? Did they say to themselves, "I'm not getting my fair share," "look how important I am," or "I hate those Al Gore types telling me what to do?" Did these people consciously decide to use more energy, was it by accident or just coincidentally that this population all went out and bought an energy hog appliance without thinking? Designing solutions that stick for a mass public is not easy.
There is value in rebranding the problem. Us old times here remember the energy crisis of the 70s. The big word was conservation. The public took that to mean, "put on a sweater and shiver in the dark." Efficiency seems to carry a much better acceptance. It seems to tell folks to get more value for their money. So, yes language does matter. When oil hits $150 a barrel when the US economy picks-up you will see efficiency become sexy for its own value.