Energy transition - how to get people on board | MMIP grant

Making homes energy-efficient is one of the biggest challenges in meeting climate targets. Yet even with subsidies and clear benefits, many homeowners do not retrofit their homes. This research exploited individual linked data and data science methods to find out how social and peer influences can help, i.e. how much individuals can be motivated by the actions or opinions of others in their surroundings. We made use of large datasets, including 1.7M individual home owners and 78 community-led retrofit campaigns.

Findings
Strongest effects emerged when people actively engaged with each other (active peer influence). An analysis of 78 community-led retrofit campaigns covering around 70,000 households showed that local community leaders (“block leaders”) significantly increased participation among neighbours living within 200 meters—even before the leaders installed retrofit measures themselves. This highlights a clear, practical lesson: well-chosen local ambassadors can be highly effective.
Passive peer influence (being affected by visible retrofits in the surroundings) also turned to be effective, but the effect is small. Specifically, we found that when nearby public housing installed solar panels, homeowners living close by were more likely to adopt energy-saving measures themselves. These effects differed strongly by type of household, with lower-demand and older households responding more to peer signals, while households already well-positioned to adopt being less affected. This finding stresses the need for tailored approaches in energy transition.
Our research also explored digital solutions. A pilot study of an online platform enabling real-time peer interaction suggested that direct communication—even online—can boost engagement, offering a scalable complement to in-person initiatives.

Recommendations
Overall, the findings showed that peer influence works best when it is targeted, social, and embedded in communities. Passive visibility has limited impact, while active, human interaction matters much more. Our project partners—Municipality of Eindhoven and Buurkracht—contributed significantly to shaping these insights and integrating them into their work, see LINK. Other local authorities may find these findings useful when designing retrofit programs, for example by considering neighbourhood characteristics, the role of local leaders, and the combination of social engagement with financial and institutional support.