Effectiveness of an energy specialist and extension agents in promoting summer energy conservation by home visits

This summer project focused on lower-income consumers (N = 52 households) living in Section Eight, all-electric apartments that were dispersed around the city of Roanoke, Virginia. It extended prior work by attempting to develop and evaluate a simple way to promote energy savings for apartment dwellers. The effectiveness of extension agents and a trained energy specialist in delivering the interventions by home visits was compared. The results indicated that relative to prior baseline use and control groups, the technician and extension groups reduced electricity use by about 21%; on warm days use was reduced by about 24%, while on cooler days, electricity was reduced by about 9%. The technician and extension groups performed about the same, although the technician group showed a somewhat more consistent and enduring response.