Rank ordering information on energy use can promote energy-conserving behavior in China

Residential energy conservation is a crucial yet often underutilized method for mitigating climate change. However, widespread estimation bias of household energy use and savings hinder practical behavioral intervention efforts. Through a national survey in China, here we reveal that residents systematically overestimate household energy use and savings, overvaluing low-energy activities while undervaluing high-energy ones. To bridge this cognitive gap, we conducted a randomized controlled experiment comparing three scalable intervention approaches: (1) providing numerical data on the energy consumption of household appliances and the savings from energy-conserving behaviors, (2) offering rank ordering information on these metrics, and (3) combining both types of information. All three succeeded in benefiting residents’ judgments about energy-conserving behaviors. Notably, only the rank ordering information led to actual behavioral changes in energy conservation. These findings underscore the transformative potential of well-designed interventions in fostering sustainable energy practices, offering actionable insights for climate policy and behavioral science. In China, interventions such as numerical data on energy consumption and savings, as well as rank ordering information on energy use, improved residents’ understanding of energy conservation according to a randomized controlled experiment.