Perceptions of electricity and water use
Abstract: Understanding the relationship between human behavior and resource use is vital. In
this presentation, I summarize two studies where participants reported their perceptions of
energy use and water use for a variety of household activities. When asked for the single most
effective strategy they could implement to conserve energy and water, most participants
mention curtailment (e.g., turning off lights, shorter showers) rather than efficiency
improvements (e.g., installing more efficient light bulbs, low-flow toilet), in contrast to experts’
recommendations. Participants had small overestimates for low-energy or water consuming
activities and large underestimates for high-energy or water consuming activities. When asked
to recommend conservation strategies—individuals want to incorporate easier non-effective
behaviors for themselves and want others to implement harder more-effective behaviors. After
summarizing these papers, I would like to open up the discussion to future lines of research that
stem from the presented work.
Bio: Shahzeen Attari's research focuses on the psychology of resource use. Her work aims to
identify factors that promote resource conservation and sustainability. Her papers
entitled “Public perceptions of energy consumption and savings” and “Perceptions of water use”
were both published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, and have been
summarized in a variety of venues, including The Economist, New York Times, CNN, and BBC.
She is an Assistant Professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at
Indiana University Bloomington. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Earth Institute
and the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) at Columbia University. She
holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering & Engineering and Public Policy from
Carnegie Mellon University, and a Bachelors of Science in Engineering Physics from University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Her website: http://mypage.iu.edu/~sattari/
Relevant papers (open access):
Shahzeen Z. Attari (2014) Perceptions of water use. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 111(14), 5129-5134.
Shahzeen Z. Attari, Michael L. DeKay, Cliff I. Davidson, and Wändi Bruine de Bruin (2010)
Public perceptions of energy consumption and savings. Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, 107(37), 16504–16059