About us

We are a team with diverse backgrounds but a shared goal of addressing climate change:

Cloud Heng is a Ph.D. student in engineering studying renewable fuels.

Gaby Moryoussef is a 4th year marketing student with experience at start-up companies.

Jay Olson is a Ph.D. graduate with experience in behavioural science.

https://youtu.be/sCFdbBSAHAo

Context

Kingston is the first city in Canada to declare a climate emergency and they plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2040. Household energy consumption represents 25% of Kingston’s energy (City of Kingston, 2018).

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Problem

The incentives for energy conservation are often delayed, abstract, and individual-focused. Feedback about energy reduction is given at the end of the month (on the power bill), framed in abstract kilowatt-hours, and has little community context.

How can we improve the incentives to reduce household energy consumption among student renters, by at least 5% for at least four months over the winter?

Stakeholders

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(Queen’s University, 2016; Hydro One, 2021)

Success criteria

  1. Power consumption should be reduced by at least 5% over 4 months, relative to the baseline of each consumer.
  2. The solution pays for itself in terms of energy reduction within the 4 months, making it a low-risk pilot project.