The Project

The aim of the project is to reduce the individual use of water, electricity and heat by the tenants by means of a daily display of their consumption values. A tenant survey in August 2022 already revealed a high level of interest in such transparency. Almost 90% of the tenants stated that they wanted to check their consumption values on a daily basis. Together with HPI, Cresco Immobilien Verwaltungs GmbH determines the reduction of consumption solely through the graphical and analytical display of the daily values in the tenant app. Considerable savings have already been recorded in similar projects in the past.

The goal of our project together with HPI is to achieve a savings effect of between 4 - 7%.

Nudging

Generally, people are motivated to live frugally, but cannot translate this intention into behavior. Nudging helps to close the intention-behavior gap and "nudges" people to behave in a certain (e.g. frugal) way. In doing so, nudging does not require changes in economic incentives or regulation and works by using psychological mechanisms (e.g., loss aversion or social norms).

The Collaboration

In the joint collaboration, HPI will provide the scientific expertise to design the experiments and the nudges, and Cresco Immobilien Verwaltungs GmbH will provide the appropriate infrastructure to implement the nudging experiments. The project collaboration is planned over a period of approximately two years, with the start targeted for the winter semester 2022/2023.