IU researchers received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to fund their research on the misperceptions people have about energy use, according to an IU press release.
The project will be a collaboration between Shahzeen Attari, an assistant professor with the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and David Landy, an assistant professor with the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.
The project aims to understand why energy misperceptions exist and to create strategies that eliminate them, according to the press release.
“What is truly exciting about this project is that it combines expertise from environmental and cognitive science to address real-world sustainability challenges,” Attari said in the press release.
According to the press release, the four-year project will study why some Americans lack an understanding about the amount of energy they are using on a daily basis.
Attari and Landy will then determine the best methods to change the way people perceive energy usage.
“Moment by moment, we use devices that use energy, but we have no idea how much energy we are using,” Attari said in the release, “We want to characterize the gap between those who understand energy consumption and energy systems and those who do not. And then we want to help close the gap.”
Through their research, Attari and Landy will create a Visual Energy Training Exercise, an online quiz, which will provide users with immediate results and correct answers, according to the press release.
The Visual Energy Training Exercise will be free and accessible to anyone with access to the internet.
According to the press release, after the exercise is tested and refined by students in SPEA and the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Attari and Landy will work with IU’s Office of Sustainability to determine whether the exercise changes users’ perception about energy usage.
Attari and Landy plan to identify whether there has been a change in perception by determining whether there has been a decrease in the amount of energy used by participants of the exercise, according to the release.
“Our goal is to develop a new understanding of the perception of energy use and to know better how to communicate the best strategies for reducing consumption,” Landy said in the press release.
Rachel Leffers
