Message framing for home energy efficiency upgrades

Abstract

Home energy efficiency upgrades reduce household energy consumption and provide financial and non-financial benefits to homeowners. This study is the first to experimentally test theory-driven message framing strategies to encourage homeowners to purchase recommended upgrades. A nationally representative sample of U.S. homeowners participated in six online experimental tests of message framing strategies. Successful framing involved changing how upgrade options were presented to subtly influence homeowners frames of reference. Respondents were more likely to report being willing to upgrade their homes after reading messages that espoused specific benefits of upgrading (bill savings, health and comfort), and after reading messages that took advantage of an anchoring heuristic (i.e., reducing the initial cost by the amount homeowners would spend on repairs anyway). Homeowners also chose to invest in more expensive upgrades if these were not listed next to extremely cheap “no-brainer” items with high annual savings. Homeowners in the 30–34 year age range, and those with children at home were most willing to upgrade.