For some people, the feedback that a smart meter (shown here) provides, is all the kick in the pants they need to change behaviors related to energy efficiency. (Image courtesy AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Do you drive a hybrid vehicle that feeds you every kind of stat imaginable on your mileage consumption? Or maybe just a run-of-the-mill beater that grudgingly displays your miles per gallon? Either way, you’re interacting with persuasive technology. Even if you opt for public transportation, chances are you’re encountering persuasive technology. And those technologies are trying hard to change the way we consume energy.

Like the term suggests, persuasive technology encompasses anything that aims to change people’s beliefs and behaviors — be it a dashboard display, a smart meter or a video game. That’s according to the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab.

Although we’re used to companies trying to convince us to consume, consumption isn’t the ultimate goal of all persuasive technologies. Rather, the Stanford lab thinks that persuasive technologies may influence positive change in the areas of health, business, safety and education. They’re even gunning for world peace and, of course, energy conservation.

What makes a technology specifically compel someone to save energy? Displaying the costs related to a particular behavior, certainly. A huge utility bill definitely will induce a lot of us to adjust the thermostat, but we may forget that gasp-inducing bill once a heat wave rolls into town. Plus, most of us don’t consider bills technology per se.

On the other hand, energy tracking software such as Google’s powermeter or Microsoft Hohm may put the costs and usage right in front of you all the time, a phenomenon that Ph.D. candidate Jon Froehlich and others dub “eco-feedback technology.” That instant feedback makes it hard to ignore that you’re jacking up the air-conditioning. As Rob W., a Google PowerMeter user writes on the site:

“It’s great to have Google PowerMeter just sit there as I’m at work and see what’s going on. It’s quite amazing actually, because occasionally one of us will forget to turn an appliance off, and I can see that little bar is slightly higher than yesterday and ask what we left on.”

Using eco-feedback to target a person’s electricity usage on an ongoing basis represents a persuasive technology that’s going after a curtailment behavior, as Froehlich points out in his interesting paper on eco-feedback technology. Such technologies may also try to effect efficiency behaviors, which Froehlich defines as one-time actions that provide a lasting impact, like buying a fuel-efficient vehicle (that’s you, Prius owners).

So what kinds of persuasive technology are you guys interacting with? Are you persuaded? We’d love to hear your experiences — energy efficient or otherwise.

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