Coproduction for Green Consumers

Paul Stern in the Wall Street Journal (Sept. 17, 2012 R8) offers six principles for getting people to take steps to save energy. He suggests that changing behavior does not depend on the size of the financial incentive, but other factors as well, which I connect to our Coproduction Experience Model:

1. Get people to think big (in terms of the one or two big changes that have the greatest impact) - Vision
2. Make the savings obvious - Incentive
3. Market effectively - Vision, Access
4. Provide convenient, credible answers - Expertise
5. Keep it simple - Access
6. Provide quality assurance/guarantee - Access, Incentive

Mr. Stern goes on to give an example illustrating these factors, Cash for Clunkers, as well as a variety of private company business models that apply the factors. But he also reminds readers that saving energy isn't a key objective of most households and businesses.