From yards to cities: a simple and generalizable probabilistic framework for upscaling outdoor water conservation behavior

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dc.contributor.authorGrant, Stanley B.en
dc.contributor.authorDuong, Kimberlyen
dc.contributor.authorRippy, Megan A.en
dc.contributor.authorPierce, Gregoryen
dc.contributor.authorFeldman, Daviden
dc.contributor.authorZanetti, Enriqueen
dc.contributor.authorMcNulty, Amyen
dc.contributor.departmentCivil and Environmental Engineeringen
dc.date.accessioned2020-08-26T12:54:51Zen
dc.date.available2020-08-26T12:54:51Zen
dc.date.issued2020-05en
dc.description.abstractOutdoor watering of lawns accounts for about half of single-family residential potable water demand in the arid southwest United States. Consequently, many water utilities in the region offer customers cash rebates to replace lawns with drought tolerant landscaping. Here we present a parcel-scale analysis of water savings achieved by a 'cash-for-grass' program offered to 60 000 homes in Southern California. The probability a resident will participate in the program, and the lawn area they replace with drought tolerant landscaping, both increase with a home's outdoor area. The participation probability is also higher if a home is occupied by its owner. From these results we derive and test a simple and generalizable probabilistic framework for upscaling water conservation behavior at the parcel-scale to overall water savings at the city- or water provider-scale, accounting for the probability distribution of parcel outdoor areas across a utility's service area, climate, cultural drivers of landscape choices, conservation behavior, equity concerns, and financial incentives.en
dc.description.notesFinancial support provided by the NSF Partnerships for International Research and Education (OISE-1243543), UC Office of the President Multi-campus Research Program Initiative award (MRP-17-455083), Virginia Tech's Open Access Subvention Fund, the UCI Newkirk Center for Science & Society Graduate Student Fellowship Award, and Virginia Tech's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. SBG derived the model and wrote the majority of the paper; KD compiled, curated and analyzed data and contributed text; MAR conducted the CART analysis and contributed text; KD, GP, DF, MAR, EZ, and AM edited the manuscript and assisted with the interpretation of results. Supporting Material includes supplemental figures and text.en
dc.description.sponsorshipNSF Partnerships for International Research and Education [OISE-1243543]; UC Office of the President Multi-campus Research Program Initiative award [MRP-17-455083]; Virginia Tech's Open Access Subvention Fund; UCI Newkirk Center for Science & Society Graduate Student Fellowship Award; Virginia Tech's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineeringen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab7c1een
dc.identifier.issn1748-9326en
dc.identifier.issue5en
dc.identifier.other54010en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/99853en
dc.identifier.volume15en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectwater conservationen
dc.subjectrebate programsen
dc.subjectbuilt environmenten
dc.titleFrom yards to cities: a simple and generalizable probabilistic framework for upscaling outdoor water conservation behavioren
dc.title.serialEnvironmental Research Lettersen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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Scholarly Works, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Destination Area: Global Systems Science (GSS)