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China’s sudden growth in solid waste production and energy consumption is challenging the government more severely than ever. The aims of this study are three-fold, to: (1) test how much intervention policies requiring householders to dispose different types of waste into separate receptacles, currently implemented in pilot cities such as Hangzhou, indirectly affect household electricity consumption; (2) investigate the importance of the form of policies (information campaigns vs. monetary incentives) and the difficulty of adopting waste disposal behaviour in considering this “spillover” effect; and (3) examine the dynamic changes of positive and negative spillover effects. Based on three-year objective panel data of two samples of Hangzhou households, this study confirms the existence of spillover, showing that, in contrast with monetary inducements, the information campaign disseminating the environmental advantages of waste separation promoted a positive spillover, although this may be influenced by difficulties in waste separation. However, positive spillover decreased more significantly over years than negative spillover, leading to the conclusion that policymakers should focus on how to maintain the positive spillover of such pro-environmental policies in the long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Research suggests that curbing consumer demand for energy through behavioral interventions is an essential component of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in the short-term. Behavior within organizational settings poses a particular challenge to those wishing to promote energy conservation because employees typically have no direct financial incentive to reduce energy use and rarely have access to information regarding their level of consumption. Two relatively simple and easy-to-implement interventions were evaluated in a workplace setting during the fall of 2008. The first involved group-level feedback presented monthly to employees via e-mail. The second used peer educators to disseminate information and to encourage colleagues to reduce energy use. Both interventions were compared to an information-only control designed to educate employees about how and why to conserve energy. Results indicated that feedback and peer education resulted in a 7% and 4% reduction in energy use, respectively. Buildings that received the control increased energy use by 4%. The effect of peer education was limited by implementation failures in two buildings. The utility of these interventions will be discussed in terms of their overall potential for reducing energy use, as well as the feasibility of their being implemented in future organizational settings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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Background: The German transplantation system is in a crisis due to a lack of donor organs. Information campaigns are one of the main approaches to increase organ donation rates. Since 2012, German health insurance funds are obliged by law to inform their members about organ donation. We raised the hypothesis: The willingness to sign a donor card rises due to the subsequent increase of specific knowledge by receiving the information material of the health insurance funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]