Power Nudge

Imagine the behavior of a typical customer who checks into a hotel room booked for a considerably expensive amount and to justify that he simply wants to maximize his comfort He overuses all the utilities, puts on all the lights, switches on the AC even when it's pleasant and lets the TV run a random channel which he totally ignores.

While going out, he leaves everything as is. Why would he do the effort of switching everything off. There is no incentive. This customer behavior pushed the hotel industry to innovate a Nudge so that they don't have to tell their customers directly. And then came the Room Card-cum-Power Key solution. And the rest is history.

With increasing incomes, people stop caring about the need to save electricity. But just because you can pay for it, doesn't mean it's right to waste electricity. Hotels have devised a solution but what about private residences and government infrastructures. Why can't we have a similar solution there?

With the 24X7 power supply in our urban locale, perhaps we have been forgetting the still occurring long power cuts from rural areas. Perhaps we need to be shaken up to that. Perhaps we must ponder upon our moral obligations. Perhaps what we need is Power Nudge!