The Message of Our Times

July 25, 2017 – What do you talk to your customers about in order to close the deal on HVAC repairs, maintenance and upgrades?

A. The costs savings they’ll realize?

B. The promise of improved comfort?

C. The impact on the environment?

D. Better health through improved IAQ?

E. Increasing the resale value of their home?

You may be surprised with the best answer, but according to a new study conducted by the marketing research firm Shelton Group and published by Energy Pulse, “Playing the Planet Card” the best answer is quickly becoming “C”, the impact on the environment. More than the potential for personal savings or even improved health, a growing number of Americans are being motivated into action by messages about the environment and concern over climate change.

What?!

This might seem counter intuitive and the opposite of everything you’ve heard from industry “experts”, but an in-depth analysis of consumer trends and attitudes lend credence to this idea. Consider the following:

Studies of consumer practices show that homeowner activities related to improving energy efficiency are lower today than they have been since they peaked around 2010. Fewer people are weatherproofing their homes, buying ENERGY STAR appliances, replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient LEDs or engaging in a myriad of other activities associated reducing their energy use. In the most recent Shelton survey, nearly one in ten Americans claims to have done absolutely nothing to conserve energy or improve the efficiency of their home over the past five years. Those actions seem to have peaked during the great recession of (when money was particularly tight) and then slowly dropped off as the economy began to improve again.

The lesson here: the promise of saving money just doesn’t seem to be as motivating a message as it was just seven years ago.

The interesting thing here is that, Americans think they’re interested in saving money, but their actions don’t bear this out. Studies find that while consumers may say that they are looking to save money, they are just not making purchasing decisions that reflect this concern.

But messages about climate change and reducing pollution? Really? Well maybe it’s time. One thing that the new Shelton survey revealed is that America’s attitude towards climate change has quietly but undeniably shifted.

According to the results of the survey, which queried thousands of homeowners across the country, a majority of Americans are genuinely concerned about the detrimental effects of climate change.  Republican or democrat, conservative or liberal, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. Of those respondents making at least $75,000 a year (in other words, those with the resources to make energy efficient purchases):

• 72% said they believe that climate change is occurring and is primarily caused by humans.
• 74% think that personal conservation habits can make a difference in preventing climate change.
• 59% say they’re anxious about climate change and that we need to reduce our carbon emissions.
• 90% said the average person should be taking steps to reduce their environmental impact.

Perhaps more surprising is that the survey results indicate that an overwhelming number of respondents (66%) said that they support a platform that explicitly acknowledges climate change. This was true for red states and blue states, republicans and democrats, men and women, young voters and old – the majority of respondents were in favor of policies that promote renewable energy and acknowledged that climate change is a real problem.

The disconnect, however, is between America’s concern about protecting the environment and their understanding of their own impact on this effort. When asked to identify the #1 man-made cause of global warming:

• 21% said car and truck emissions
• 15% said deforestation
• 12% said the energy used by manufacturing
• 6% said the energy we use in our homes

More alarming is the fact that nearly half of those that understand the huge impact that homes and buildings have on creating greenhouse gas believe that their own homes are already efficient (even though we know this to be wrong).

So clearly, education continues to be a valuable component of our industry’s efforts to drive demand for energy efficient products and services. The American public still needs to better understand the critical role that heating and cooling (in general) plays in promoting climate change. And they still need to better understand how their own homes (specifically) contribute to the bigger picture.

But education is not enough. According to various studies on human behavior, emphasizing messages related to personal responsibility doesn’t seem to change behavior. In other words, trying to guilt trip your customer into buying a more energy efficient furnace probably won’t work.

What does work are messages about collective responsibility. There are various studies that suggest Americans are often motivated into action when they believe that their activities are part of a bigger effort. They donate more money to a cause during a large fundraising campaign. They are more likely to participate in an altruistic activity (like saving the planet) when they perceive that their efforts will help the larger community. In fact, introducing messages of personal savings into the equation may actually reduce the motivation to contribute.

All of these factors indicate that broad environmental messages may now be the key to promoting residential energy efficiency. Homeowners are responding to ideas of group responsibility rather than individual gain. It’s not personal savings. It’s not even ROI. More than ever before, your customers are more likely to purchase energy saving products and services in order to help save the planet. Climate change may very well be the message of our times.