Webinar by Ondrej Kacha: Introducing a new guidebook to improve consumer engagement with demand-response

Introducing a new guidebook to improve consumer engagement with demand-response

About 90% of electricity generation is projected to come from renewable sources by 2050. However, increased dependence on renewables (such as wind and solar) can make the energy supply more volatile and harder to predict. Put simply: Will there be enough electricity between 5-7 pm when most of us return from work and turn on our cooking hob, crank up the air-con or heating, and switch on the TV?

To ensure a stable electricity supply, we need flexible consumers who are able and willing to adjust their electricity throughout the day to match the capacity of the grid. This flexibility can take many forms, from households scheduling their dishwashers to off-peak hours, charging their electric vehicles overnight as opposed to afternoons, or preheating their boilers at times when the energy supply is high.

In this session, we will explore what it takes to motivate consumers to become more flexible: by adopting new habits, new technologies, and participating in demand-response programmes. We will introduce a new guidebook that we designed for policymakers and energy suppliers to help them apply behavioural insights to encourage demand flexibility, and ultimately safe and reliable grid for the future.

About the Speaker

Ondřej Kácha

Ondrej is a senior behavioural scientist at The Behaviouralist. He completed his M.Phil in Social Psychology at the University of Cambridge. In The Behaviouralist he translates academic research into real-world interventions that encourage consumer adoption of clean energy technologies and sustainable habits. He also leads the Users TCP Behavioural Insights Platform together with Jesper Akesson.