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Reversing impatience: Framing mechanisms to increase the purchase of energy-saving appliances

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  • Silvi, Mariateresa
  • Padilla Rosa, Emilio
Abstract
Most environmental decisions involve intertemporal trade-offs, in that they require foregoing immediate gratification for the sake of future environmental quality. One such example is investing in energy efficiency, which entails an initial upfront cost in exchange for a future stream of energy and economic savings. Our experiment explores the role of individual temporal preferences in the decision to invest in energy conservation. We report results from a study on a nationally-representative sample of 2010 United States adults. Participants chose between appliances that differed solely in price and operating costs. We manipulated the salience of energy costs and primed participants with future-oriented messages. Our treatments increased energy-efficient choices by 24 percentage points compared with the status-quo scenario. Present-oriented individuals are less likely to purchase energy-efficient appliances but loss-framed messages that highlight the opportunity cost of inefficient appliances diminish the effect of impatience on refrigerators choice.

Suggested Citation

  • Silvi, Mariateresa & Padilla Rosa, Emilio, 2021. "Reversing impatience: Framing mechanisms to increase the purchase of energy-saving appliances," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:103:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321004357
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105563
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Schleich, Joachim & Gassmann, Xavier & Meissner, Thomas & Faure, Corinne, 2023. "Making the factors underlying the implicit discount rate tangible," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    3. Huaccha, Gissell, 2023. "Regional persistence of the energy efficiency gap: Evidence from England and Wales," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    4. McGowan, Féidhlim P. & Denny, Eleanor & Lunn, Peter D., 2023. "Looking beyond time preference: Testing potential causes of low willingness to pay for fuel economy improvements," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Park, Jiyong & Son, WooJin & Moon, HyungBin & Woo, JongRoul, 2023. "Nudging energy efficiency behavior: The effect of message framing on implicit discount rate," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    6. Zhiyu Lv & Xu Zhang, 2023. "Influencing Factor Analysis on Energy-Saving Refrigerator Purchases from the Supply and Demand Sides," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-16, June.

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