Making consumers green, with envy

Submitted by Michael on Sat, 01/31/2009 - 09:05

The Times has a story this morning about how various entities — California utlities, midwestern colleges, etc. — are using the competitive instinct to enlist energy savers.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District, for example, shows customers how their use ranks versus 100 neighbors who have similar-sized homes and use the same heating fuel. It uses software by the company Positive Energy, which came up with the idea, and has since added utilities in 10 other metropolitan areas as customers.

I was pleased to see the story close with a good chunk on the Energy Smackdown, the creation of the BrainShift Foundation that is pitting family teams in Arlington, Medford, and Cambridge against each other in energy-conservation races.

Thanks to my mom for tipping me off to the story, and to the always-anonymous-but-clever copy editor who wrote the story's headline. The headline above uses her or his idea. Brilliant.

Speaking at Commonwealth Club

I will be speaking on the topic of food addiction at the Commonwealth Club of California, the oldest public affairs forum in the country, on Feb. 28. I'll be joining a fabulous panel of researchers and clinicians: Nicole Avena of Princeton and the University of Florida, Eric Stice of the Oregon Research Institute, Vera Tarman of Renascent Center of Toronto, abd Elissa Epel and Andrea Garber, both of the University of California at San Francisco. I am very excited to be part of the roster, not to mention to be appearing at such a great institution. Ticket information here; if you come, please stay afterward to say hello.

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