“Behavioral intervention using real estate feedback on water consumption via smart meters”
Project Team:
PI: SING Tien Foo, Co-PI: AGARWAL Sumit, Co-PI: GOETTE Lorenz, National University of Singapore
Thorsten Staake, University of Bamberg and ETH Zurich
Verena Tiefenbeck, ETH Zurich and University of Bonn
WANG Davin, NUS
Water is an important and scarce resource in Singapore. Long-term self-sustainability has been one of the key strategic thrust in Singapore’s blueprint of water supply. This project studies how real time information feedback helps intervene into water consumption behaviour of households. The findings of the study would have important implications on new policy tools in water demand management in the long-term.
Objectives of Studies:
The objectives of the projects are:
- To determine the effects of real-time feedback on water conservation during showers, and which form of information communication (either by quantity or symbol) works best in the intervention.
- To examine if interventions persist in changing the behaviour of households in water consumption.
- To understand psychological mechanisms that operate in the treatments.
- To assess potential spill-overs of the treatment effects on to other behaviours, such as water and electricity consumption other than showering.
- To assess variations in water usage for different sample households and how they respond to different “goals” setting in the experiment.
Media Coverage
Targets, Real Time Feedback Can Cut Water Use in the Shower, Op Ed, Straits Times, 11 February 2017 (AGARWAL Sumit and SING Tien Foo)
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/targets-real-time-feedback-can-cut-water-use-in-the-shower
“Beyond price hikes and conservation campaigns, saving water through smart showers,” Channel News Asia (CNA) Commentary, 27 March 2018 (AGARWAL Sumit and SING Tien Foo)
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/nudging-conserving-water-beyond-price-hikes-10040642