Implementing Behavioral Energy Change (BEC)

Abstract

Many sites pursue very large efficiency gains, converting old
equipment to newer, more efficient models in the belief that this will
potentially provide large savings. But often these savings do not oc-
cur to the planned degree, for many reasons, including operational or
personnel issues. Other times we don’t realize, or are slow to realize,
that significant conservation savings could be cheaply achieved if we
could only get employees to perform at work the same correct energy
behaviors they perform at home—or some other simple work practice
changes.
In either of these instances, people are often both the strongest
and weakest link in the energy reduction chain, and they can very
often make or break the meeting of energy reduction goals. At some
sites, experience has shown that behavioral energy savings might be
10% or more of a site’s total utility budget, so we know this should
be addressed. But when it comes to people and energy, the “squishy,
yet hard” question is, How can we best to go about attacking energy
reduction through behavioral change?
This article will present how to best use the “human element”
when it comes to energy management and reduction, through applica-
tion of typical behavior-based methodology. We will present the classic
considerations of any behavior modification program, evaluating the
common definitions, terms, and principles. We will then apply behav-
ior based techniques to actual energy reduction examples, showing
real world methods and results.