Joana Abreu
Joana leads Fraunhofer CSE’s efforts to evaluate how people interact with and accept novel building systems and controls. She works with government and industry clients to design and implement rigorous field experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral interventions. Her approach relies on user feedback to inform early design decisions, and therefore, she frequently conducts focus groups and usability studies, whose early feedback informs project communication with target groups and program design. She is the Principal Investigator for a RCT project, supervised by NYSERDA, to evaluate the behavioral strategies for effective use of programmable thermostats in multifamily affordable housing. She recently led a study based upon the theory of planned behavior, where she analyzed how different photovoltaic technologies have an impact in the intentions of homeowners to purchase solar PV. Prior to joining Fraunhofer, Dr. Abreu worked as a consultant to several utilities to design, implement, analyze, and evaluate behavior-focused interventions in field and pilot studies. She helped design the energy efficiency feedback for the Smart Galp project, that featured the pilot deployment of a utility service that enables households to monitor their electricity, natural gas and fuel consumption via an interactive online portal. Dr. Abreu also advised and conducted deep data analytics for the Neighbor to Neighbor Connecticut CBMP. For a small electricity distribution and retailer, she designed and managed a 980-household demand automation pilot that used an opt-out RCT design (50% rate recruitment rate in two months). She has published peer-reviewed papers on a range of building energy efficiency topics, including demand response potential and identification of household energy-related behaviors based on smart meter data. She received her Ph.D. in Sustainable Energy Systems from the Technical University of Lisbon while participating in the MIT-Portugal Program.
Supervisors: Jorge Vasconcelos, Francisco Câmara Pereira, Inês Lima Azevedo , David Marks , and Paulo Ferrão
Phone: 857-389-4801
Address: Brookline, MA
United States
Supervisors: Jorge Vasconcelos, Francisco Câmara Pereira, Inês Lima Azevedo , David Marks , and Paulo Ferrão
Phone: 857-389-4801
Address: Brookline, MA
United States
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Papers by Joana Abreu
have been broadly addressed in recent literature. However, it is still to
determine how well the public would accept innovations to the
conventional architecture. Building applied photovoltaic technology
(BAPV) is a technological innovation in solar photovoltaic (Solar PV)
systems that can be directly placed over existing building surfaces. This
study compares an evaluation of the conscious and subconscious
attitudinal, control and normative beliefs of American homeowners when
randomly primed with two brochures depicting the purchasing, installation
and commissioning of solar PV systems, designed according to the
characteristics of conventional and an adhesive "plug and play" BAPV
system. The survey instrument was designed in consonance to the Theory of
Planned Behavior (TPB), and portrays the response of (N=400) survey
participants.
Significant differences weren't found for direct measures which may
indicate that for those unfamiliar with PV technology, placing an
adhesive backing module on the roof is standard procedure and doesn't
impact purchasing intentions. The evaluation further showed that unlike
the subconscious control beliefs, subconscious social norms and attitudes
have a significant impact on forming intentions to adopt solar PV. The
implications of these findings for strategy, policy and future research
are explored
have been broadly addressed in recent literature. However, it is still to
determine how well the public would accept innovations to the
conventional architecture. Building applied photovoltaic technology
(BAPV) is a technological innovation in solar photovoltaic (Solar PV)
systems that can be directly placed over existing building surfaces. This
study compares an evaluation of the conscious and subconscious
attitudinal, control and normative beliefs of American homeowners when
randomly primed with two brochures depicting the purchasing, installation
and commissioning of solar PV systems, designed according to the
characteristics of conventional and an adhesive "plug and play" BAPV
system. The survey instrument was designed in consonance to the Theory of
Planned Behavior (TPB), and portrays the response of (N=400) survey
participants.
Significant differences weren't found for direct measures which may
indicate that for those unfamiliar with PV technology, placing an
adhesive backing module on the roof is standard procedure and doesn't
impact purchasing intentions. The evaluation further showed that unlike
the subconscious control beliefs, subconscious social norms and attitudes
have a significant impact on forming intentions to adopt solar PV. The
implications of these findings for strategy, policy and future research
are explored