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To save carbon or to save forest: comparing effectiveness of climate impact messaging on household energy behavior

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dc.contributor.authorCurcio, Hannah, author
dc.contributor.authorAloise-Young, Pat, advisor
dc.contributor.authorGraham, Dan, committee member
dc.contributor.authorMarzolf, Greg, committee member
dc.contributor.authorTompkins, Sara Anne, committee member
dc.date.accessioned2023-06-01T17:27:03Z
dc.date.available2023-06-01T17:27:03Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractImpacts from the climate change crisis are already being seen across the world. With these adverse events, awareness of, and communication about, climate change is increasing. Despite this, though, there has been an inadequate increase in climate action. Thus, it is important to determine the best ways to communicate climate impact information to consumers. The present study investigates how we can best frame climate impact messages for them to be effective in changing consumer behavior. Specifically, the effectiveness of four different carbon messages was examined in the context of household energy behavior. While meeting U.S. electricity demand with renewable energy is an attainable goal, it will require greater flexibility in the electricity grid, including flexibility in demand timing. Thus far, utility companies have used price signals as a main form of demand response. However, communicating environmental savings to consumers in addition to/instead of price savings is an emerging trend. For these reasons, the present study focused on the impact that climate impact messages may have consumers' willingness to shift their appliance use toward a time of day when renewable energy sources are more plentiful. Participants were recruited online and through local environmental groups. In an online survey, 244 participants were randomly assigned to one of four messaging conditions for three household appliances (air conditioning, dishwasher, and washing machine). The goal of the messages is to convince consumers to shift the times they use these appliances, and, as a result, shift demand on the electricity grid, to 9 a.m. (a time with higher renewable energy sources on average in the continental U.S.). Based on previous message framing research, the messages tested were framed in terms of environmental gain: specifically, the environmental savings accomplished by the behavior change. Three messages were created based on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions data, with savings calculated in terms of pounds of CO2 emissions, percent change in CO2 emissions, and the equivalent of acres of forest planted. (For example, "…would cut your yearly CO2 emissions by the equivalent of planting 475 square feet of forest…") A fourth message simply stated that the behavior is "more environmentally friendly" to test a non-numeric message. Participants were asked the likelihood of changing the time that they run each appliance, first with no message present (which acted as a baseline covariate) and then with the randomly assigned message present. Because previous research has shown that numeracy plays a role in the effectiveness of numerical messaging, I also tested a numeracy moderation effect. To compare participants' likelihood of switching across messaging conditions and to test whether numeracy played a moderating role, I ran individual analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) for each of the three appliances. This allowed me to control for participants' baseline likelihood (i.e., with no environmental message), by adding it as a covariate. Across all three appliances, neither the main effects of messaging condition and numeracy nor the interaction between the two were significant predictors of post-test likelihood. This means there was no evidence to suggest a difference in effectiveness between the messaging conditions, although there was a notable nonsignificant trend of the forest equivalency message performing better. Additionally, I ran mean differences tests comparing baseline likelihood and experimental likelihood for each of the conditions. These tests showed strong evidence that each climate impact message significantly increased participants' likelihood of switching the time they use their appliances. The finding that the messages were effective confirms the need to understand how to optimize the impact that climate impact messages can have on behavior and the mechanisms through which they are effective. Furthermore, the finding that the forest equivalency message had the strongest effect of the four messages (though not statistically significant) is worth researching further, because of the potential applications of this finding. Communicating climate impact information in terms of equivalency in square footage of forest planted easily allows for visualizations to be included, more so than other numerical messages, which may increase a message's saliency and persuasiveness. Furthermore, the findings of the present study and a pilot study that is reported suggest that future research should examine effectiveness within different segments of the population. More research, overall, is needed to further investigate the most effective ways to inform consumers about the climate impact of their behaviors.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediummasters theses
dc.identifierCurcio_colostate_0053N_17624.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10217/236568
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartof2020-
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.subjectclimate impact messaging
dc.subjectenvironmental behavior change
dc.subjecthousehold energy behavior
dc.subjectconsumer communications
dc.subjectclimate change
dc.subjectenvironmental psychology
dc.titleTo save carbon or to save forest: comparing effectiveness of climate impact messaging on household energy behavior
dc.typeText
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychology
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (M.S.)

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