The Need for Human Factors in the Sustainability Domain

The 2008 Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 52nd Annual Meeting includes an article entitled, “The Need for Human Factors in the Sustainability Domain,” by Scott A.C. Flemming, Antony Hilliard, and Greg A. Jamieson.  The article reviews research on behavioral interventions used to reduce energy consumption and organizes it into four categories: (1) behavioral taxonomy; (2) human decision-making biases; (3) intervention methods; and (4) descriptions of successful and unsuccessful interventions.

The authors also make several references to how the discipline of human factors and ergonomics can contribute design solutions that facilitate “sustainable resource consumption,” including:

• “Human Factors specialists have an opportunity to contribute their expertise in human-machine systems to help address these deficiencies and aid in shifting our societies toward sustainable resource consumption.” (p. 748)
• “Human factors engineering has the theory and technical expertise to analyze feedback systematically and contribute much to the design of new conservation technology.” (p. 748)
• “…we believe that human factors and ergonomics specialists have much to add by simply applying their skills and knowledge to the domain of sustainability.” (p. 752)
• “The theoretical frameworks already in use by human factors practitioners may be promising candidates to systematically integrate existing findings, identify research opportunities, and guide design of innovative feedback interventions.” (p. 752)