WEBINAR “Does information on energy costs lead to low efficiency purchases?”- 22 April 2020

Speaker: Giovanna d’Adda, University of Milan, Fondazione Pesenti and RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE), Centro Euro‐Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Italy
Moderator: Cristina Cattaneo, RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE), Centro Euro‐Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Italy

Title: Does information on energy costs lead to low-efficiency purchases?

Abstract
The research team conducted a large-scale field experiment with an online retailer to evaluate the impact of energy cost information on purchasing decisions of large household appliances. Results show that drawing attention to energy costs leads to less efficient purchases -especially when providing lifetime energy costs. Search and navigation data on the retailer’s website confirm that the treatments increase the attention paid to inefficient products. This is consistent with customers over-estimating energy savings from high-efficiency products. Results have implications for designing information campaigns aimed at promoting energy efficiency.