Promoting Eco-Friendly Behaviour through Virtual Reality - Implementation and Evaluation of Immersive Feedback Conditions of a Virtual CO2 Calculator

Title of the Paper

Promoting Eco-Friendly Behavior through Virtual Reality: Implementation and Evaluation of Immersive Feedback Conditions in a Virtual CO2 Calculator

Paper Information

• Research Domain: Virtual Reality, Behavioral Psychology, Environmental Protection Behavior
• Keywords: Virtual Reality, Eco-Friendly Behavior, Temporal Distance, Intention-Behavior Gap, Self-Efficacy, CO2 Calculator, Behavior Change, Data Visualization

Research Background and Problem

• Main Challenges:

  1. Global climate change is a pressing issue, but the impact of individual eco-friendly behaviors is often not intuitive, with difficulties such as the "intention-behavior gap."
  2. Existing CO2 calculators primarily provide numerical feedback, and abstract information struggles to effectively encourage users to adopt eco-friendly behaviors.
  3. One key issue with eco-friendly behavior is "temporal distance," where the consequences of actions are often distant and delayed, lacking immediacy and visual impact.

• Significance: Enhancing personal connection and providing immediate feedback may more effectively motivate individuals to change their behavior and mitigate the long-term harms of climate change.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • Virtual Reality (VR) has been proven in multiple studies to have potential in promoting behavior change, particularly by generating cognitive and emotional responses through immersion.
  • This study aims to evaluate whether VR visualization can effectively overcome psychological barriers such as temporal and control distance, thereby encouraging positive environmental behavior changes.

Solution

• Proposed Method:

  • Developed a VR-based virtual CO2 calculator combining two feedback methods: numerical values and virtual 3D CO2 balloons to visualize users' carbon footprints.
  • Introduced a time-span option allowing users to view the changes in CO2 emissions over one, two, and three years.

• Innovations:

  1. For the first time, users' carbon emissions are displayed in the form of 3D balloons, enhancing visual impact.
  2. Introduced a time-travel perspective to help users perceive the cumulative effects of their actions over time.
  3. Designed feedback intervention mechanisms based on psychological theories such as self-efficacy theory.

• Implementation Steps and Technology:

  1. Virtual Environment and Technical Implementation:
     • Developed using Unity engine and HTC-VIVE Pro equipment.
     • Designed a European countryside virtual scene for users, embedded with intuitive menus and interactive feedback.
  2. Core Component of the CO2 Calculator:
     • Based on the CO2 calculation model from the German Environmental Agency, covering 24 questions related to diet, transportation, consumption, etc.
     • Outputs numerical feedback (in tons/year) and balloon feedback (corresponding to the actual volume of CO2).
  3. Research Design:
     • Adopted a 2×2 experimental design: feedback format (numerical vs. balloon) × time span (one year vs. one to three years).
     • Used self-efficacy scales and behavior change intention data as key measurement indicators.

Research Results

• Specific Findings:

  1. Time-span feedback had a significant positive impact on environmental self-efficacy: compared to single-year feedback, multi-year feedback significantly increased participants' environmental self-efficacy.
  2. The 3D visualization of balloons did not significantly enhance environmental self-efficacy or behavior change intentions.

• Comparison with Existing Solutions:

  • While existing CO2 calculators provide time-span functionality, VR offers a more immersive understanding method, addressing deeper psychological barriers such as temporal distance.
  • Although the balloon visualization innovation was ineffective, the realistic context and experience provided by VR may inspire researchers to develop interactive feedback methods in the future.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  1. Under extended time feedback conditions, self-efficacy scores showed a significant increase (p = 0.003).
  2. Behavior change intentions did not show significant differences across experimental groups.
  3. Numerical feedback was not significantly inferior to balloon feedback; the atmospheric effect of balloons may have blurred the impact on behavior change.
  4. Participants did not experience significant cybersickness.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • The design of balloon visualization may require optimization, such as using different colored balloons for categories, more compact layouts, or stronger interactivity.
  • The study did not measure actual behavior changes and only assessed self-efficacy and intentions; further research is needed to examine long-term behavioral impacts.
  • The sample consisted primarily of young students; future studies should expand to more diverse populations, particularly older user groups.

Conclusion

The study demonstrates the potential of virtual reality technology in promoting environmental behavior, particularly in overcoming temporal distance and providing more intuitive feedback. However, the simulated 3D balloon visualization showed limited effectiveness, indicating the need to explore more creative and impactful VR feedback methods. Future research should focus on actual behavior changes and test a broader range of user demographics.