Question

Policies aimed at reducing consumer demand can play a significant role in managing energy and water use at very little or no extra cost. Outline some of interventions based on psychological research which could help achieve such reductions.

Answer 1

Fresh water is the most important necessity for the survival of human races on this earth. To reduce the water consumption, it is necessary to reduce water demand. With rising industrialization and technological advancements, water demand has highly increased. This has increased the vulnerability of water resources, and have brought them near to extinct.

Demand?side management is distinguished from supply side management in that it focuses on the amount and patterns of water use by consumers. It is important to identify that cosumption of water is critical is a critical aspect of water demand management highlights a need for a better understanding of the psychological processes. There are two types of water conservation behaviors: efficiency behaviors and curtailment behaviors.

De Young [2000] makes a distinction between “antecedent” and “consequence” approaches. Antecedent strategies are proposed to bring about change by influencing the determinants of behavior, e.g., by seeking a commitment to water saving, setting goals, or providing information. An antecedent approach promotes conservation by attempting to change attitudes to water conservation.

Research by Kurz et al. [2005], for example, showed that prompts about conserving water placed at the point where water is used resulted in households reducing their water use by 23 percent. On the other hand, consequence strategies are said to change behavior by influencing determinants after the enactment of behavior.