Twenty-five utilities in the U.S. now provide customers with data related to their neighbors’ energy usage. According to the utilities, the implied social pressure has lowered energy consumption between two and three percent. Meanwhile, in Spain, a highly effective debt collector is using public embarrassment to get people to pay up. He wears a tuxedo and approaches debtors at their table in restaurants, while they are surrounded by friends, or he walks into their offices and casually talks to them. (The Week, 2/12/10; Christian Science Monitor, 2/12/10)
In Spain, social pressure is working where the legal system has not, and implied social pressure is working in the U.S. where extensive educational programs have not.
Ken Hey
