Instant guide to savings

Press, 20 July 1977, Page 6

Instant guide to savings

PA Auckland A digital clock in the kitchen showing electricity consumption in dollars and cents could help people to conserve energy. A consulting social scientist, Dr P. Phillips, said in a paper presented at Auckland University yesterday that one of the most effective ways to motivate people was to provide them with rapid information about their behaviour. Two-monthly billing was extremely difficult to relate to the way electricity was used in the home. The time delay was too long and the information was not broken down into enough categories.

“I would like to see a redesigned electricity meter which showed in an intelligible form how much electricity is being used at any point and how much has been used since the last billing.” Dr Phillips also suggested school classroom exercises on the quantity of electricity used in the home. Class exercises could lead to awkward questions at home such as why electricity use was twice the class average.