Yes! Caving in to peer pressure can save us money - if that peer pressure is nudging us away from our wasteful energy habits. Most of us don't spend much time thinking about our household energy use. In fact, it's safe to say we spend more time each day standing in line for a coffee at Starbucks or WAWA than we do each year fretting about how many kilowatts we use.
Yet most of us waste more energy than we use productively - without even knowing it. Alex Laskey, founder of Opower, explains it best.
Yet most of us waste more energy than we use productively - without even knowing it. Alex Laskey, founder of Opower, explains it best.
Research by Opower, the cloud-based software company that measures household energy use, found that we are much more likely to change our behavior - turn down the thermostat a couple of degrees, for example - if we're told our "neighbors are doing it" than if we're told we'll "save money" or "save the planet". Neither of those last two messages changed behavior at all.
Opower is now working with utility companies around the country to help customers make smarter energy decisions by letting us know how our neighbors are doing. And it's working. Opower has helped consumers like us save $703 million so far.
Opower doesn't share specific information about neighbors, just that fact that other houses like ours in the neighborhood are doing better or worse than we are.
Given that PECO has recently installed smart meters at most of our homes, Opower could be coming to our community soon. If so, we may all be able to save money by giving in to a little peer pressure.
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