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LEED certification and zero-energy consumption can be planned in the earliest stages of a project, but users of a building have the ultimate say in how much energy is going to be used. How do you entice them to turn off the lights, recycle and leave their space heaters at home? The field of 鈥渆nvironmental psychology鈥� is working on it, and pilot programs have been cropping up around the country to test the ability to alter peoples’ behavior. Here are some things that are being done to keep people to low energy targets:

• Colleges around the country have sponsored energy conservation competitions between dorms in hopes that the contest aspect will motivate students to develop lower-energy-cost habits. A similar competition pitted 14 buildings across the country against one another to see who could save the most on energy bills.
• Google’s lets homeowners monitor their energy usage in real-time using an online system.
• Upcoming: as more high-performance green buildings make their way through development, more behaviors are examined and encouraged. Gerding Edlen’s Dennis Wilde was recently asked what behaviors will be encouraged at the aiming-for-net-zero Oregon Sustainability Center. His response: 鈥淓ver heard of lap blankets?鈥�