Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1942/26618
Title: Energy performance label in Flanders – an example of behaviourally-informed policy tool
Authors: TARANU, Victoria 
VERBEECK, Griet 
NUYTS, Erik 
Issue Date: 2018
Abstract: The energy performance certificate (EPC) is mandatory in the EU, aiming to enable prospective buyers and renters to compare dwellings in terms of energy performance. Flanders intends to improve its current EPC, by adding a label to the existing coloured scale and EPC score. Our research aimed to inform the Flemish Energy Agency by testing before releasing the new version of the certificate, thus being an example of behaviourally-informed policies. Firstly, a literature review of experiments on information framing in similar contexts is presented. Given the evidence of the importance of information framing, we tested ten versions of the new label (N= 224). Nudges used included social norm, anchoring and rescaling. Dependent variables were perceived energy efficiency, energy consumption and estimated percentage of Flemish dwellings with a better label. Besides, we tested whether respondents are aware that the label is relative to the dwelling size. Based on these results the label was rescaled, from the initial G to A, to F to A+. Rescaling corrects the overoptimistic assessment of the energy performance label F compared to the rest of the dwelling stock. Another finding is that presenting information as bar graph is more effective than plain text.
Notes: Paper accepted as proceeding for submitted to the Prague Conference on Behavioral Sciences 2018 conference and submitted to the special issue of the Behavioural Public Policy Journal based on the proceedings.
Keywords: energy label; information framing; nudge; energy efficiency; behavioural insights; lab experiments; policy making
Document URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1942/26618
Category: O
Type: Preprint
Appears in Collections:Research publications

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