Energy efficient technologies are particularly important for social housing settings: they offer the potential to improve tenants' wellbeing through monetary savings and comfort, while reducing emissions of entire communities. Slow uptake of innovative energy technology in social housing has been associated with a lack of trust and the perceived risks of adoption. To counteract both, we designed a communication campaign for a retrofit technology for heating including social norms for technology adoption and concretely experienced benefits. We report two randomized controlled trials (RCT) in two different social housing communities in Belgium. In the first study, randomization was on housing block level: the communication led to significant higher uptake rates compared to the control group. In the second study randomization occurred on apartment level, again yielding a significant increase, when an interaction with housing blocks was considered. We discuss challenges of conducting randomized controlled trials in social housing communities.

翻译：节能技术对社会住房环境尤为重要：它们既能通过节省开支和提升舒适度改善租户福祉，又能减少整个社区的碳排放。社会住房中创新节能技术采纳率低下的原因，通常与居民缺乏信任及感知到采用风险有关。为应对这两个问题，我们针对供暖系统改造技术设计了一项传播活动，该活动整合了技术采纳的社会规范与具体可感知的效益。我们在比利时两个不同的社会住房社区实施了两项随机对照试验（RCT）。第一项试验以住宅单元楼为随机分组单位：相比对照组，传播活动显著提高了技术采纳率。第二项试验以公寓为随机分组单位，在考虑住宅单元楼交互效应时，同样观察到显著提升。我们讨论了在社会住房社区开展随机对照试验所面临的挑战。