47 responding to survey 1 and 32 responding to survey 2.
Survey 1
• 97% of volunteers showed concern about the environment as well as wanting to save money.
• 72% made efforts to save energy at start of trial.
• 67.5% couldn’t be sure which electrical appliances or gadgets used the most energy.
• 90% believed that a community’s combined efforts to save energy could make a difference to global climate change.
Survey 2
• 90% found the trial worthwhile.
• 97% thought that they made more effort to save energy after the trial.
• 75% understood which of their gadgets and appliances used the most energy.
• 87.5% found that the trial had helped them identify where they could save money on their electrical usage.
• 81% stated that the trial had helped them understand their household's impact on the environment.
• 100% stated that they would like their community to continue to be involved in energy saving or ‘green’ initiatives.
Specific Outcomes
• The number of households with over 16 eco bulbs increased from 22.5% to 44%.
• The number of households turning their electrical items off standby stayed the same at approximately 78% (all or most of them).
• 87.5% of volunteers stated that after the trial it would be a key priority to find out how energy efficient a new purchase would be. Before the trial the figure was 80%.
How effective are standard messages about energy saving?
Before the trial, most volunteers already demonstrated energy saving behavior. The majority would only boil the amount of water specifically needed in a kettle, they would use eco programmes on dishwashers and washing machines. They would also turn out unnecessary lights. These actions seem to be the most obvious and the easiest ones to take.
More challenging behavior change that was linked to enjoyable pastimes such as watching television or using computers or showering was far more unlikely to be done.
When asked after the survey the results on the ‘easy’ actions strengthened even further but the likelihood of Rauceby residents to reduce the use of electrical items such as TVs, computers and showers showed little change despite the use of the smart meter.
This may demonstrate that general awareness and a commitment to finding solutions to energy use increases after the smart meter has been used but volunteers found it difficult to take steps that would make their lives possibly ‘more austere’.
Carbon emissions from Rauceby
In the month of December 2008 the kWh of electricity used by 31 surveyed households in Rauceby was 14292 kWh.
If this was factored up for the number of households in Rauceby it would mean that a total of domestic electricity use for both villages would be 100505 kWh.
This is equal to approximately 461 kWh per household.
This would cost approximately £50 per month without including the standing charge.
This would result in CO2 emissions per household of approximately 239kg of CO2 per month from electricity use alone.
If we use standard party balloons as a reasonable estimation for 10g of CO2, that equates to each household emitting 23,900 balloons per household per month for domestic electricity.
If this was scaled up for the 51 households that took part in the trial it would be 1,218,900 balloons.
If this was scaled up for the whole community of North and South Rauceby then it would equate to 5,210,200 balloons released during a calendar month from domestic electricity use alone.