When saying “enough” is not enough: How cultivating households’ mindfulness through gamification can promote energy sufficiency

Abstract

In France, despite the growing importance of public policies to encourage domestic energy sufficiency, there is little understanding of their effectiveness in maintaining households' daily efforts to moderate their use of energy over time. We investigate how gamification instruments can develop households' mindfulness, i.e., the extent of the efforts made (vividness) and their duration in time (stability) to integrate sufficiency practices into their routines. We study the case of a Déclics challenge, a French initiative that aims towards engaging households with energy reduction plans through gamification. Our empirical material comprises 18 interviews with participants in the Déclics challenge covering towns in the eastern Paris region, a 1-year participant observation, and complementary interviews and meetings with organizers. Our findings reveal mixed effects of the challenge according to the different household profiles identified in terms of the vividness of their practices before, during and after the challenge and their responses to the challenge's gamification instruments. Our study shows that policymakers should invest further in designing interventions that reduce the efforts required from individuals to integrate sufficiency into their routines.