Research Highlights
Social-psychological Approaches of Analyzing Demand Response
By Dr. Chien-Fei Chen and Dr. Xiaojing Xu
Social psychology is the pursuit of understanding how we view ourselves in relation to the rest of the world.
Social psychologists are interested in the diverse aspects in which interpersonal relationships and environ-
mental factors can work together – with the hope of improving these interactions. CURENT has assembled
a social science team that works with engineers and computer scientists in order to better understand the
social behavioral aspects behind energy efficiency issues and the rapid growth of renewable energy technol-
ogy use. Specifically, CURENT focuses on the research areas of demand response, smart meter technology
adoption, energy saving behaviors in both residential and commercial buildings and low-income household
Figure 1:
The minimum
amount of
financial rewards
requested for
major household
DR behaviors
Figure 2:
Anticipated partici-
pation rate (yes%)
for each DR program
across 4 states
Figure 3:
Factors predicting
participation of DR
programs (odds ra-
tios in parentheses)
9
CURENT Newsletter
Spring 2017