A longitudinal study of informational interventions to save energy in an office building

Informational interventions were employed to promote two behaviors relevant for efficient heating of individual offices in a large office building. In two successive winter seasons, interventions were applied during 4-week periods. Short-term effects were assessed weekly, and long-term effects were assessed 1 year after each of the two intervention periods. Improvements were observed in each intervention period, with partial behavior maintenance 1 year later. The changes observed in the individual offices across conditions are suggestive of the program's capacity to correct relapses in earlier proenvironmental behavior.     

Multiple incentives in encouraging car pool formation on a university campus

The effects of a combined token economy and reserved parking program were evaluated as a means of increasing car pooling among students on a university campus. Following a baseline period, students in two experimental parking lots were notified of the availability of reserved parking and coupons redeemable for 25 cents in merchandise for each occupant of automobiles containing two or more people. Two control lots also were monitored for a comparison of treatment effects. Results indicated variable increases in car pooling in the two experimental lots and no increase in the control lots. Removal of the 25-cent coupons from one treatment lot (reserved parking only) did not adversely affect rates of car pooling. An analysis of individual automobile occupancy rates among car poolers indicated distinct patterns of car pooling and underscored the importance of individual subject data analysis in the present situation. A cost-benefit analysis indicated that even moderately effective car pool programs can be cost-effective on both a public and personal level.     

Reducing elevator energy use: A comparison of posted feedback and reduced elevator convenience

The effects of two different procedures for reducing elevator energy use were assessed using a multiple-baseline design. In the first procedure, feedback about the amount of energy consumed by the elevators each week was posted on each elevator door. Later, signs advocating the use of stairs to save energy and improve health were posted next to the feedback signs. In the second procedure, the time required to travel between floors was increased by adding a delay to the elevator door closing mechanisms. Results indicated that neither feedback alone nor feedback plus educational signs reduced the amount of energy consumed by the elevators. However, use of the door delay reduced consumption by one-third in all elevators.A second experiment replicated the effect of the door delay on energy consumption and, in addition, demonstrated that the door delay also produced a reduction in the number of persons using the elevator. The second experiment also showed that, following an initial period during which a full delay was in effect, a gradual reduction of the delay interval resulted in continued energy conservation. Reduced convenience as a general strategy for energy conservation is discussed.     

Reduction of residential consumption of electricity through simple monthly feedback

Feedback has been widely used in efforts to control the consumption of electricity. Previous efforts, however, have used forms of feedback that seem economically impractical. The present study examined the effects of a feasible program of monthly feedback. Forty matched nonvolunteer participants were randomly divided into two groups: a no-contact control group and a monthly feedback group. In an A-B-A design, the data showed a clear decrease in electricity consumption for the feedback group during the feedback phase. The effect was maintained during a 4-mo intervention period. Withdrawal of the feedback was associated with a return to higher levels of electricity consumption.     

MATURE CONTEMPLATION

Abstract. This chapter extends biogenetic structural theory to a consideration of the biopsychological principles underlying higher phases of consciousness, particularly those attained by the systematic exploration of consciousness called contemplation. The concepts of psychic energy, flow, centeredness, energy circulation, and dreambody are explored as presented in various mystical traditions, and a model of the underlying neurophysiology is presented in terms of ergotropic-trophotropic tuning. The psychophysiology of various forms of meditation together with emergent peak experiences is examined and integrated into the ergotropic-trophotropic tuning model. Structural invariance of ergotropic-trophotropic tuning as well as invariant aspects of contemplation across different cultures and associated with different symbol systems is considered. Finally the nature and implications of Void Consciousness, God Consciousness, or Abssolute Unitary Being are examined.     

The use of the large-scale integrated sensor (LSI) to estimate energy expenditure

The relationship between activity counts from the large-scale integrated sensor (LSI), placed at the hip and ankle, and heart rate-estimated energy expenditure was examined in three nonobese males during three conditions: normal morning activities, a 1-mi walk, and a 2-mi walk. Results showed that estimated caloric expenditure was related to activity counts for both monitoring placements, with correlations between counts and energy expenditure exceedingr=.90. These results show that energy expenditure in the activities sampled can be reliably estimated using activity monitors.This research was supported in part by a grant provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on the Psychobiology of Depression, Clinical Research Center Grant 5-30915 from the NIMH, and Grant HD 16411 from the NICHD awarded to Dr. Epstein.     

Effects of informational prompts on energy conservation in college classrooms

A multiple-baseline design was used with two target classroom groups (n = 28 and 27) in a study to reduce electrical energy waste in college classrooms. A dittoed letter, signed by a faculty member, was sent to each professor in the prompt condition. In the letter the professor was informed that he or she taught prior to an unscheduled period and was asked to turn off lights following the class. The results showed that after the prompt, the percentage of rooms with lights turned off increased by 13% and 6% in each target group. A further analysis of the 10 classrooms that had the lowest baseline rates of turning lights off indicated a 30% increase after the prompt. This study indicates that a minimum prompt procedure was effective in reducing electrical energy waste. The further significance of these results are also discussed.     

WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE DOING TO US AND FOR US?

What are we doing to our climate? Emissions from fossil fuel burning have raised carbon dioxide concentrations 35 percent higher than in the past millions of years. This increase is warming our planet via the greenhouse effect. What is climate change doing to and for us ? Dry regions are drier and wet ones wetter. Wildfires have increased threefold, hurricanes more violent, floods setting record heights, glaciers melting, and seas rising. Parts of Earth are increasingly uninhabitable. Climate change requires us to act as a global community. Climate justice enjoins emitters to pay the social‐environmental costs of fossil fuel burning. This would expedite green solar, wind, and next‐generation nuclear energy sources. Individuals should conserve resources, waste less food, and eat a plant‐rich diet.     

CLIMATE CHANGE AND CONFLICTING FUTURE VISIONS

Dealing with the effects of climate change requires the consideration of multiple conflicting moral claims. The prioritization of these claims depends on the vision of a desired future, eschatology broadly defined. These visions, sometimes implicit rather than explicit, shape our decision making by influencing our sense of how things “ought to be.” The role of future visions in economics, technology, and preservation of nature are explored as secular eschatologies. Four aspects of such visions are especially relevant to climate change decisions: distributive justice, land use, the relationship among humans, and our relationship to the rest of nature. Effectively dealing with such wicked problems requires that we scrutinize our visions of how the future ought to be, both technically and morally. Finally, we must foster a dialogue between competing visions so that we can forge a path that strives for consent.     

The effect of exercise intensity on joint power and dynamics in ergometer double-poling performed by cross-country skiers

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of increasing exercise intensity on the role of joint powers in ergometer double poling (DP), while taking specific dynamic constraints into account. One main question was whether lower-body power contribution increased or decreased with increasing intensity. Nine male Norwegian national-level cross-country skiers performed ergometer DP at low, moderate, high and maximal intensity. Kinematics, and ground (GRF) and poling (F_poling) reaction forces were recorded and used in link segment modeling to obtain joint and whole-body dynamics. Joint powers were averaged over the cycle, the poling (PP) and recovery (RP) phases. The contribution of these average powers was their ratios to cycle average poling power. At all intensities, the shoulder (in PP) and hip (mostly in RP) generated most power. Averaged over the cycle, lower-body contribution (sum of ankle, knee and hip power) increased from ∼37% at low to ∼54% at maximal intensity (p < .001), originating mostly from increased hip contribution within PP, not RP. The generation of larger F_poling at higher intensities demanded a reversal of hip and knee moment. This was necessary to appropriately direct the GRF vector as required to balance the moment about center of mass generated by F_poling (control of angular momentum). This was reflected in that the hip changed from mostly absorbing to generating power in PP at lower and higher intensities, respectively. Our data indicate that power-transfer rather than stretch-shortening mechanisms may occur in/between the shoulder and elbow during PP. For the lower extremities, stretch-shortening mechanisms may occur in hip, knee and trunk extensors, ensuring energy conservation or force potentiation during the countermovement-like transition from body lowering to heightening. In DP locomotion, increasing intensity and power output is achieved by increased lower-body contribution. This is, at least in ergometer DP, partly due to changes in joint dynamics in how to handle dynamic constraints at different intensities.