Understanding Energy Consumption Behavior

Consumer Understanding of Appliance Labels

For over twenty years, the EnergyGuide label has been required to be affixed to all appliances sold in the US—yet very little research has been done on its effectiveness in informing consumer purchase decisions. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is now leading an evaluation effort of the current label, as well as research on the effectiveness of alternative label designs. LBNL's role has been to assist in the overall research design and participate in conducting in-store interviews with appliance shoppers and sales people to determine how well both the buyers and sellers understand and make use of the existing label, and several possible alternatives.