DEFG launches EcoAlign. First EcoPinion survey confirms gap between consumers and companies around communications

The Distributed Energy Financial Group (DEFG) LLC today launched EcoAlign, a strategic marketing agency focused on energy and the environment. EcoAlign’s mission is to align consumer behavior with energy and environmental needs for products, services and programs.

“EcoAlign was created to close the gap between customers’ stated intentions, e.g, reducing their carbon footprint, and their actual purchasing behavior,” stated Andrea Fabbri, COO and Chief Marketing Officer. “We see this as a marketing and communications challenge. Our motto: Making value visible.”

To mark the launch, EcoAlign released the first EcoPinion Survey Report, a survey of 1,000 Americans conducted the first week of November, on communications and language commonly used by companies and stakeholders in the energy and environment space. The EcoPinion Survey confirms a green gap exists around terms such as energy efficiency, energy conservation, demand response, smart energy and clean energy, and customers’ understanding, acceptance and perceptions of value around those terms.

The green gap in communications is contributing to a growing misalignment between customers’ stated intentions, e.g., their desire to be more green or frugal with energy consumption, and their actual behavior.

Findings from the EcoPinion Survey Report include:

1. Most consumers can’t articulate the difference between the phrases “energy conservation” and “energy efficiency,” while only 13% of respondents thinking energy efficiency has to do with saving money or cutting down on fuel costs.
2. To conserve energy, a quarter of consumers try to buy energy efficient products, and 19 % lower their thermostats, with women more likely to take actions around conserving energy
3. Only about one third, 30%, of Americans understand the term “smart energy” and about the same amount, 32%, say they are not doing enough in terms of “smart energy”
4. One third of respondents do not know what “clean energy” signifies.
5. 41% of consumers polled don’t know what “demand response” is, but nonetheless find it un-popular (44%), annoying (42%) and un-helpful (40%).
A copy of the full EcoPinion report is available at no charge by clicking here.

For more information on DEFG, please visit our website: www.defgllc.com