Comments on Aguanomics: THIS is how you get people to use less water

This is also interesting... http://energychalleng...

2009-11-24T19:13:46.247-08:00

This is also interesting...

http://energychallenge.indiana.edu/Home.html

@Josh -- good question, and I thought of the same....

2009-11-20T13:11:13.666-08:00

@Josh -- good question, and I thought of the same. There are two responses: (1) the gradual reduction in average use (with competition) and (2) the need to reset/scramble ratings so that people can make a fresh start. (2) would be easy to do -- just run a one-week "sprint" from baseline zero every month or so...

We don't want the Yankees and Cubs, we want world cup football...

Thanks for posting this, David. There is a lot of...

2009-11-20T10:50:42.268-08:00

Thanks for posting this, David.

There is a lot of action in this space. We're financing an effort to create real-time feedback on not just use, but impacts. It's similar, but bigger in scope, and smaller in time-step.

By wiring the meters to the utility's SCADA systems and wire the SCADA systems to measure stream conditions and emission quality. All of this is in more-or-less real time.

The big trick is to dial-in Josh's and similar concerns. There is not only "anchoring" where folks lock into a status, but even more of a strong "reversion to mean" tendency when groups are given this kind of feedback. Much of the work we're financing is getting the social psychology right.

More will come soon, but for a first look: http://www.luciddesigngroup.com/communities.php

(sorry if this is too much of a commercial.)

Very interesting stuff. Here's a question: Has a...

2009-11-20T07:57:02.144-08:00

Very interesting stuff. Here's a question:

Has anybody studied the economic consequences/behavior of the "beat-down" syndrome? As a high school teacher, I was made brutally aware of students whose place in life was to be the 'dumb' one, the one who lost, came in last in a race, etc. They owned that place, because they knew it, it was comfortable in its consistency.

Over time, if a hall becomes "known" for being the worst water users, will they own that and be proud of it?