WEBVTT 00:00:00.594 --> 00:00:03.133 How many of you have checked your email today? 00:00:03.133 --> 00:00:05.029 Come on, raise your hands. 00:00:05.029 --> 00:00:07.160 How many of you are checking it right now? NOTE Paragraph 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:08.718 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:08.718 --> 00:00:11.218 And how about finances? Anybody check that today? 00:00:11.218 --> 00:00:13.706 Credit card, investment account? 00:00:13.706 --> 00:00:17.659 How about this week? NOTE Paragraph 00:00:17.659 --> 00:00:20.776 Now, how about your household energy use? 00:00:20.776 --> 00:00:22.714 Anybody check that today? 00:00:22.714 --> 00:00:26.866 This week? Last week? 00:00:26.866 --> 00:00:29.994 A few energy geeks spread out across the room. 00:00:29.994 --> 00:00:32.563 It's good to see you guys. 00:00:32.563 --> 00:00:35.798 But the rest of us -- this is a room filled with people 00:00:35.798 --> 00:00:38.780 who are passionate about the future of this planet, 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:40.611 and even we aren't paying attention 00:00:40.611 --> 00:00:43.571 to the energy use that's driving climate change. 00:00:43.571 --> 00:00:46.226 The woman in the photo with me is Harriet. 00:00:46.226 --> 00:00:48.763 We met her on our first family vacation. 00:00:48.763 --> 00:00:51.125 Harriet's paying attention to her energy use, 00:00:51.125 --> 00:00:53.985 and she is decidedly not an energy geek. 00:00:53.985 --> 00:00:59.224 This is the story of how Harriet came to pay attention. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:59.224 --> 00:01:01.253 This is coal, 00:01:01.253 --> 00:01:04.610 the most common source of electricity on the planet, 00:01:04.610 --> 00:01:07.834 and there's enough energy in this coal 00:01:07.834 --> 00:01:11.786 to light this bulb for more than a year. 00:01:11.786 --> 00:01:13.857 But unfortunately, between here and here, 00:01:13.857 --> 00:01:15.289 most of that energy is lost to things 00:01:15.289 --> 00:01:18.174 like transmission leakage and heat. 00:01:18.174 --> 00:01:21.753 In fact, only 10 percent ends up as light. 00:01:21.753 --> 00:01:25.761 So this coal will last a little bit more than a month. 00:01:25.761 --> 00:01:28.370 If you wanted to light this bulb for a year, 00:01:28.370 --> 00:01:33.408 you'd need this much coal. 00:01:33.408 --> 00:01:36.452 The bad news here is that, for every unit of energy we use, 00:01:36.452 --> 00:01:38.525 we waste nine. 00:01:38.525 --> 00:01:40.156 That means there's good news, 00:01:40.156 --> 00:01:42.739 because for every unit of energy we save, 00:01:42.739 --> 00:01:46.004 we save the other nine. 00:01:46.004 --> 00:01:51.285 So the question is, how can we get the people in this room 00:01:51.300 --> 00:01:54.266 and across the globe to start paying attention 00:01:54.266 --> 00:01:56.352 to the energy we're using, 00:01:56.352 --> 00:01:59.328 and start wasting less of it? NOTE Paragraph 00:01:59.328 --> 00:02:01.715 The answer comes from a behavioral science experiment 00:02:01.715 --> 00:02:05.096 that was run one hot summer, 10 years ago, 00:02:05.096 --> 00:02:07.232 and only 90 miles from here, 00:02:07.232 --> 00:02:10.608 in San Marcos, California. 00:02:10.608 --> 00:02:13.289 Graduate students put signs on every door in a neighborhood, 00:02:13.289 --> 00:02:16.110 asking people to turn off their air conditioning 00:02:16.110 --> 00:02:18.320 and turn on their fans. 00:02:18.320 --> 00:02:20.608 One quarter of the homes received a message that said, 00:02:20.608 --> 00:02:22.926 did you know you could save 54 dollars a month this summer? 00:02:22.926 --> 00:02:24.744 Turn off your air conditioning, turn on your fans. 00:02:24.744 --> 00:02:26.578 Another group got an environmental message. 00:02:26.578 --> 00:02:28.667 And still a third group got a message about 00:02:28.667 --> 00:02:31.347 being good citizens, preventing blackouts. 00:02:31.347 --> 00:02:35.064 Most people guessed that money-saving message would work best of all. 00:02:35.064 --> 00:02:37.677 In fact, none of these messages worked. 00:02:37.677 --> 00:02:40.533 They had zero impact on energy consumption. 00:02:40.533 --> 00:02:44.654 It was as if the grad students hadn't shown up at all. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:44.654 --> 00:02:46.474 But there was a fourth message, 00:02:46.474 --> 00:02:48.597 and this message simply said, 00:02:48.597 --> 00:02:52.507 "When surveyed, 77 percent of your neighbors 00:02:52.507 --> 00:02:54.997 said that they turned off their air conditioning and turned on their fans. 00:02:54.997 --> 00:02:56.802 Please join them. Turn off your air conditioning 00:02:56.802 --> 00:02:58.063 and turn on your fans." 00:02:58.063 --> 00:03:00.760 And wouldn't you know it, they did. 00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:02.714 The people who received this message 00:03:02.714 --> 00:03:05.236 showed a marked decrease in energy consumption 00:03:05.236 --> 00:03:08.647 simply by being told what their neighbors were doing. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:08.647 --> 00:03:10.347 So what does this tell us? 00:03:10.347 --> 00:03:12.564 Well, if something is inconvenient, 00:03:12.564 --> 00:03:14.553 even if we believe in it, 00:03:14.553 --> 00:03:18.431 moral suasion, financial incentives, don't do much to move us -- 00:03:18.431 --> 00:03:22.101 but social pressure, that's powerful stuff. 00:03:22.101 --> 00:03:25.719 And harnessed correctly, it can be a powerful force for good. 00:03:25.719 --> 00:03:27.884 In fact, it already is. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:27.884 --> 00:03:30.516 Inspired by this insight, my friend Dan Yates and I 00:03:30.516 --> 00:03:32.692 started a company called Opower. 00:03:32.692 --> 00:03:35.161 We built software and partnered with utility companies 00:03:35.161 --> 00:03:37.964 who wanted to help their customers save energy. 00:03:37.964 --> 00:03:41.030 We deliver personalized home energy reports 00:03:41.030 --> 00:03:42.748 that show people how their consumption 00:03:42.748 --> 00:03:45.620 compares to their neighbors in similar-sized homes. 00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:47.860 Just like those effective door hangers, 00:03:47.860 --> 00:03:50.324 we have people comparing themselves to their neighbors, 00:03:50.324 --> 00:03:52.840 and then we give everyone targeted recommendations 00:03:52.840 --> 00:03:54.490 to help them save. 00:03:54.490 --> 00:03:56.796 We started with paper, we moved to a mobile application, 00:03:56.796 --> 00:03:59.725 web, and now even a controllable thermostat, 00:03:59.725 --> 00:04:01.742 and for the last five years we've been running 00:04:01.742 --> 00:04:06.145 the largest behavioral science experiment in the world. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:06.145 --> 00:04:07.809 And it's working. 00:04:07.809 --> 00:04:09.906 Ordinary homeowners and renters have saved 00:04:09.906 --> 00:04:13.046 more than 250 million dollars on their energy bills, 00:04:13.046 --> 00:04:14.559 and we're just getting started. 00:04:14.559 --> 00:04:17.819 This year alone, in partnership with more than 80 utilities 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:20.073 in six countries, we're going to generate 00:04:20.073 --> 00:04:23.225 another two terawatt hours of electricity savings. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:23.225 --> 00:04:25.266 Now, the energy geeks in the room know two terawatt hours, 00:04:25.266 --> 00:04:27.305 but for the rest of us, two terawatt hours 00:04:27.305 --> 00:04:30.644 is more than enough energy to power every home 00:04:30.644 --> 00:04:33.938 in St. Louis and Salt Lake City combined 00:04:33.938 --> 00:04:35.506 for more than a year. 00:04:35.506 --> 00:04:37.472 Two terawatt hours, it's roughly half 00:04:37.472 --> 00:04:40.058 what the U.S. solar industry produced last year. 00:04:40.058 --> 00:04:43.649 And two terawatt hours? In terms of coal, 00:04:43.649 --> 00:04:46.806 we'd need to burn 34 of these wheelbarrows 00:04:46.806 --> 00:04:50.802 every minute around the clock every day for an entire year 00:04:50.802 --> 00:04:52.906 to get two terawatt hours of electricity. 00:04:52.906 --> 00:04:54.223 And we're not burning anything. 00:04:54.223 --> 00:04:55.951 We're just motivating people to pay attention 00:04:55.951 --> 00:04:58.964 and change their behavior. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:58.964 --> 00:05:01.254 But we're just one company, and this is just 00:05:01.254 --> 00:05:03.391 scratching the surface. 00:05:03.391 --> 00:05:06.956 Twenty percent of the electricity in homes is wasted, 00:05:06.956 --> 00:05:08.960 and when I say wasted, I don't mean that people have 00:05:08.960 --> 00:05:12.313 inefficient lightbulbs. They may. 00:05:12.313 --> 00:05:15.457 I mean we leave the lights on in empty rooms, 00:05:15.457 --> 00:05:18.487 and we leave the air conditioning on when nobody's home. 00:05:18.487 --> 00:05:21.571 That's 40 billion dollars a year wasted 00:05:21.571 --> 00:05:24.820 on electricity that does not contribute to our well-being 00:05:24.820 --> 00:05:27.467 but does contribute to climate change. 00:05:27.467 --> 00:05:29.587 That's 40 billion -- with a B -- 00:05:29.587 --> 00:05:31.870 every year in the U.S. alone. 00:05:31.870 --> 00:05:35.235 That's half our coal usage right there. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:35.235 --> 00:05:38.007 Now thankfully, some of the world's best material scientists 00:05:38.007 --> 00:05:41.513 are looking to replace coal with sustainable resources 00:05:41.513 --> 00:05:42.651 like these, 00:05:42.651 --> 00:05:46.149 and this is both fantastic and essential. 00:05:46.149 --> 00:05:48.187 But the most overlooked resource to get us 00:05:48.187 --> 00:05:51.733 to a sustainable energy future, it isn't on this slide. 00:05:51.733 --> 00:05:56.389 It's in this room. It's you, and it's me. 00:05:56.389 --> 00:05:59.073 And we can harness this resource 00:05:59.073 --> 00:06:00.910 with no new material science 00:06:00.910 --> 00:06:04.102 simply by applying behavioral science. 00:06:04.102 --> 00:06:06.186 We can do it today, we know it works, 00:06:06.186 --> 00:06:09.914 and it will save us money right away. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:09.914 --> 00:06:12.665 So what are we waiting for? 00:06:12.665 --> 00:06:15.392 Well, in most places, utility regulation 00:06:15.392 --> 00:06:19.708 hasn't changed much since Thomas Edison. 00:06:19.708 --> 00:06:22.638 Utilities are still rewarded when their customers 00:06:22.638 --> 00:06:24.202 waste energy. 00:06:24.202 --> 00:06:28.005 They ought to be rewarded for helping their customers save it. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:28.005 --> 00:06:31.411 But this story is much more than about household energy use. 00:06:31.411 --> 00:06:33.473 Take a look at the Prius. 00:06:33.473 --> 00:06:36.495 It's efficient not only because Toyota invested in material science 00:06:36.495 --> 00:06:38.970 but because they invested in behavioral science. 00:06:38.970 --> 00:06:41.110 The dashboard that shows drivers how much energy 00:06:41.110 --> 00:06:43.074 they're saving in real time 00:06:43.074 --> 00:06:44.589 makes former speed demons 00:06:44.589 --> 00:06:47.342 drive more like cautious grandmothers. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:47.342 --> 00:06:49.906 Which brings us back to Harriet. 00:06:49.906 --> 00:06:52.094 We met her on our first family vacation. 00:06:52.094 --> 00:06:54.281 She came over to meet my young daughter, 00:06:54.281 --> 00:06:56.452 and she was tickled to learn that my daughter's name 00:06:56.452 --> 00:06:58.506 is also Harriet. 00:06:58.506 --> 00:06:59.931 She asked me what I did for a living, 00:06:59.931 --> 00:07:01.476 and I told her, I work with utilities 00:07:01.476 --> 00:07:03.352 to help people save energy. 00:07:03.352 --> 00:07:05.578 It was then that her eyes lit up. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:05.578 --> 00:07:07.510 She looked at me, and she said, 00:07:07.510 --> 00:07:09.738 "You're exactly the person I need to talk to. 00:07:09.738 --> 00:07:11.921 You see, two weeks ago, my husband and I got a letter 00:07:11.921 --> 00:07:14.241 in the mail from our utility. 00:07:14.241 --> 00:07:17.439 It told us we were using twice as much energy as our neighbors." 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:20.869 (Laughter) 00:07:20.869 --> 00:07:23.689 "And for the last two weeks, all we can think about, 00:07:23.689 --> 00:07:25.977 talk about, and even argue about, 00:07:25.977 --> 00:07:27.697 is what we should be doing to save energy. 00:07:27.697 --> 00:07:30.562 We did everything that letter told us to do, 00:07:30.562 --> 00:07:33.364 and still I know there must be more. 00:07:33.364 --> 00:07:35.042 Now I'm here with a genuine expert. 00:07:35.042 --> 00:07:39.801 Tell me. What should I do to save energy?" NOTE Paragraph 00:07:39.801 --> 00:07:43.853 There are many experts who can help answer Harriet's question. 00:07:43.853 --> 00:07:45.915 My goal is to make sure 00:07:45.915 --> 00:07:48.213 we are all asking it. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:48.213 --> 00:07:49.571 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:49.571 --> 00:07:54.174 (Applause)