Project Energy Code Brings Social Scientists into Discussion on How to Close Green Gap Between Stated Intentions and Actual Behavior
WASHINGTON D.C., February 12, 2009: EcoAlign, a strategic marketing agency focused on energy and the environment, released the second Project Energy Code report, “Markets, Technology and Institutions: Increasing Energy Efficiency Through Decentralized Coordination,” written by distinguished economist Dr. Lynne Kiesling.
The report explores new infrastructure technologies that increase consumer awareness of electricity consumption and the ability of consumers to modify electricity consumption. These technologies facilitate economic decision-making through “decentralized coordination” which contrasts with regulation and central decision making. Dr. Kiesling concludes that decentralized coordination is more effective at closing the “green gap.”
“Our traditional regulatory institutions were premised on, and designed for, a static economy with little technological change,” concludes Dr. Kiesling. “That world no longer exists in the electric industry, and the failure of our regulatory institutions to adapt to unknown and changing conditions is costly, in terms of economic inefficiency, of greater resource use than may be optimal, and of long-term environmental quality.”
Dr, Kiesling also considers how individual behaviors affect economic decision-making, and the consumer behaviors of risk aversion, status quo bias, and loss aversion. She refers to a research agenda that will explore human behavior through the lens of experimental economics to better understand our information-rich and complex institutions.
The report is part of Project Energy Code, a new research program developed by EcoAlign, which will provide an ongoing analysis of consumer behavior with regard to energy consumption and the environment from an approach grounded in social sciences.
A copy of the full report is available at no charge by visiting EcoAlign’s website at www.ecoalign.com.
Dr. L. Lynne Kiesling is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Northwestern University, and in the Social Enterprise at Kellogg (SEEK) program in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
EcoAlign is the foremost energy and environment marketing agency that aligns corporate and consumer behavior with the future of energy and environment via innovative marketing and communications strategies.
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ECOALIGN RELEASES REPORT, "INCREASING ENERGY EFFICIENCY THROUGH DECENTRALIZED COORDINATION," AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE
