Domestic uptake of green energy promoted by opt-out tariffs
Domestic uptake of green energy promoted by opt-out tariffs
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DOI：
10.1038/nclimate2681
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发表时间：
2015-09-01
影响因子：
30.7
通讯作者：
Lotz, Sebastian
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ebeling, Felix;Lotz, Sebastian
激励个人从可持续能源中选择能源，而不是传统生产的能源，是社会面临的最大政策挑战之一（1,2）。在这里，我们展示了在德国进行的一项随机对照试验的结果，该试验测试了默认规则（即一种“轻推”）对自愿购买完全来自可再生资源的“绿色”能源合同的影响。将默认选择设置为更昂贵的“绿色”能源（也就是说，如果消费者不想要，他们必须主动选择退出），这类能源的购买量增加了近10倍。此外，在没有推动的情况下，县级对绿党的政治偏好唯一地预测了行为，这表明默认设置可能会推翻绿色能源购买的动机方面。在后续实验中，我们提供了进一步的证据，证明这种效应似乎不是由无意识驱动的。总而言之，本研究提供了一个利用行为科学（3-9）缓解气候变化的例子，并展示了使用补贴或其他经济激励的替代办法。
Motivating individuals to choose energy from sustainable sources over conventionally produced power constitutes one of the biggest policy challenges for societies(1,2). Here we present the results of a randomized controlled trial in Germany that tested the impact of default rules (that is, a type of 'nudging') on voluntary purchases of 'green' energy contracts that entirely stem from renewable resources. Setting the default choice to more expensive 'green' energy (that is, where consumers have to actively opt out if they do not want it) increased purchases of such nearly tenfold. Furthermore, county-level political preference for the green party uniquely predicted behaviour in the absence of the nudge, suggesting that default setting potentially overrules motivational aspects of green energy purchases. In follow-up experiments, we provide further evidence that the effect does not seem to be driven by unawareness. Summarizing, the present research provides an example of using behavioural science(3-9) for climate change mitigation and shows alternatives to the use of subsidies or other economic incentives.