Unpanel on Energy Dashboards

Jaymi Heimbuch reports from West Coast Green 2009: “Can Energy Dashboards Change Behavior, Permanently?” The result from an unpanel:

What does science tell us about these questions?

Victor Strecher of the University of Michigan has studied health-related behavioral change for years and is an innovator in online health coaching. Perhaps his insights can inform thinking about the efficacy of energy dashboards:

I find behavior change and self-improvement a fascinating subject; it’s a unique aspect of our human nature. Interestingly, I find that few lay people can tell me how behavior change actually works. Many people feel that change is simply a matter of “willpower.” But, in our research we’ve never been able to find this thing called willpower. We do know that smokers who say that quitting is a matter of willpower actually have lower rates of success in quitting.

First, do people really want to change their energy behavior? If so, is “willpower” an issue, or something else? 

Based on years of research, two major factors relate to success in changing behavior. One is motivation— how motivated are you to lose weight, to quit smoking, to exercise, to manage your diabetes? Motivation comes from motives: I’m losing weight to look better, to feel better, to be healthier, etc. Motives come from our values— I value my appearance, I value being a good parent, I value being in control of my life. Exploring motivation to change a behavior and the roots of this motivation helps us understand the causes and therefore some of the targets of our behavior change efforts.

What are the motives for changing behavior around energy use? If motives come from values, what values are at play? What is the role of information delivered via dashboards in shaping values, motives, etc.? This relates to the first dimension of the BAO framework (beliefs, attitudes, etc.). Relating this to health, if I eat too much I become overweight and I see that all the time. What if I lived in the body of an avatar: i wouldn’t have a connection between eating and being overweight. I’d need some kind of “overweight meter” to tell me that.. 

Another factor of change is called self-efficacy— how confident are you that you can lose weight? What influences our self-efficacy? Our previous successes and failures and how we’ve interpreted them. Watching other people we think are similar to us succeed or fail. Having others tell us that we can or can’t do it. Our ability to control our emotions while we try to change.

Are individuals confident that they can save energy? What if we have no prior history with saving energy, observing others, or having others tell us we can or can’t do it? What is the role of dashboards in changing this confidence, for better or worse? What about emotions and their connection to visualized energy information?

Natural Resource Data Feeds – Questions

Since carbon management systems rely on collecting reliable data, several questions arise:

• What data are available on natural resource use in organizations (water, gas, heat, etc.)? 
• What is the form are these data (paper, electronic feeds, etc.)?
• If they are in paper form, who inputs the data and into what sort of system?
• How do the various systems that hold various types of data speak to one another?
• What is the cost of this data collection, for enhanced data collection, and who pays it?

Energy Dashboards

Energy dashboards for buildings are a bridge between BAU and a sustainable future:

Why dashboards?

According to JCI’s Hoffman, there are three factors behind the push toward adding dashboards. First, the cost of energy is a big driver. Depending on the building’s location—both geographically and on the site—the kWh cost of electricity and the cost of gas (natural or otherwise) plays a big role in the metrics a building owner might track.

Second, said Hoffman, the green movement drives owners to purchase dashboards. For some companies, green is a way of life, so a tool that helps track efficiency and usage is the logical next step. (See Kenneth Elovitz’s story on green liability, page 20.)

Finally, competition with other company facilities or similar buildings can work as a driver. Building managers push their buildings to be the best, to become the most efficient, and to leave the smallest carbon footprint possible.

Workflow Management for Carbon Accounting

Accurate and reliable measurement is one of the most time-consuming aspects of a carbon management reduction program. Workflow management is a feature of some carbon management systems that enables identification, assignment, and tracking of sub-tasks. This presumably makes the process more effective. Here’s an example from Carbon Planet:

Why Can’t Sustainability be Interesting and Fun?

Thanks Lucid Design, for envisioning the future. 

Electricity, water, etc. by hour, day, month by quantity, cost, etc.

Energy Smackdown! Including savings. Try it out here.

Criticisms of Apple re: Sustainability Reporting

Apple, apparently, is under fire:

• TriplePundit: “Apple Snubs Green Shareholders, Refuses Sustainability Reporting” 
• “We recommend that Apple use Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines to prepare the [2010] sustainability report and use the Carbon Disclosure Project as a means to specifically report on greenhouse gas emissions and reduction efforts.” Online Ethical Investor
• BusinessGreen.com “Apple risks green makeover with CSR snub”

I looked up Apple on the Carbon Disclosure Project, and lo and behold, they’ve been reporting since 2006:

and what standards do they use: GRI?

Bottom line: sustainability reporting is heterogenous and still largely unregulated. Get the facts and assess any company (like Apple) based on those facts.

Volvo Gets IT: IT Drives Innovative Sustainability Solutions

Recognition that IT is key driver of sustainability solutions across the company.

Focus on IT for communication, collaboration, effective business processes, and GHG reduction.

Social Media Supports Sustainability @ Intel

In addition to annual corporate sustainability reports (as well as annual local reports), here’s how Intel harnesses social media to support its CSR efforts:

• CSR&Intel blog with over 20 different authors discussing such issues as “Social Media to the rescue?”
• Hosts an internal green portal which”attracts 1,700 active employee participants“.
• Has a social media center of excellence and publishes social media guidelines.

Bottom line, social media is reshaping communications about enviromental and social responsibility at Intel:

But social media is changing the way we think about reporting and CSR communications – it has the potential to extend our message to new audiences, complement our annual report with regular updates, and provide one more channel for stakeholders to communicate directly with us about where they think we are getting it right, and where we still need to improve. By proactively engaging in social media – we can gather more insight into the conversations that are happing in the blogosphere about our company – understand new concerns and trends, to help us better respond to new challenges as they arise. But building a culture that embraces social media takes time and investment – a good summary of the steps that Intel has taken over the last few years to provide support and encouragement for Intel employees to actively engage in social media can be found here [more]

New Book “The Sustainable MBA”

There’s a new book out, “The Sustainable MBA” by Giselle Weybrecht, which according to the marketing blurb I received in an email today “brings together all the pieces of the business and sustainability puzzle.”

A quick scan of the table of contents reveals chapters on accounting, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics, finance, marketing, operations, organizational behavior, and strategy.

However, there’s no chapter on information systems, i.e., the information infrastructure that will enable the capture, storage, display, reporting, and sharing of critical environmental data and information as well as analytics enabling linkage to financial metrics; that will enable collaboration within and among organizations regarding sustainability; etc. Why is this omission important?

• Reflects larger pattern of treating information systems implicitly, when they often can be make or break and should be treated explicitly (see infamous failures such as those at Nike, KMart, FBI, IRS, Denver Airport, FAA, Hilton hotels, etc.)

• Perpetuates managerial IT unconsciousness, which occurs when senior management lacks awareness of the importance of IT and its governance on business projects. As stated by David Avison and his colleagues “A poorly designed, carelessly implemented, irresponsibly managed system can lead to company failure, along with IT failure.” (and sustainability failure).

• Studying past IS project failures reveals that the top two sources of failure are not rooted in technology but are rooted in process and people issues (see Nelson’s study). Surely “The Sustainable MBA” needs to understand the process and people issues associated with IS for sustainability, e.g., carbon management systems for ensuring reliable data capture and reporting?

My chapter on IS and sustainability for the Oxford University Handbook on Business and the Environment (in process) will hopefully fill an important knowledge gap in this area.

Q: Pricing carbon drives need for accurate carbon data

Carbon has been priced at 17€/tCO2 if you are a business in France, decided by the French Government.

Role of information systems?

More sophisticated software systems will be needed to ensure efficiency and compliance. With an increase in regulatory reporting the requirements for more accurate data will be critical. The new reporting requirements will create a demand in automatic data collection and direct integration of carbon accounting systems with other enterprise data management systems.

An alternative view is put forth by Michael Woelk at tripleundit.com:

Even if sophisticated carbon management and inventory software are employed, the emissions tracked will at best be a highly educated guess. Are guess-based carbon measurements a good idea? Definitely not.

I’m not sure why this is the case. What’s the basis for the claim that “emissions tracked will at best be a highly educated guess.” Has a study been done on this? Is there abundant case evidence that in company after company emissions tracking numbers are not accurate or reliable?

For example, where is the “guesswork” in the University of Michigan’s use of their own purchased electricity data (1,570 billion BTUs in FY2008) to compute emissions data (430,000 metric tons in FY2008) from that source using a simple deterministic equation? Maybe I’m missing something?