Professor believes the key to getting people to actively reduce their home electricity use is to make it a competition.

At the “Behavior, Energy and Climate Change” conference in Sacramento, Calif., Stanford University professor Byron Reeves introduced an online gaming concept that combines smart meters that monitor a home’s energy use with a multi-player competition.

Reeves, an expert in the psychological process of media, believes the key to getting people to actively reduce their home electricity use is to make it a competition. His idea would feed a home’s smart meter data into a massive multi-player online game where the more you reduce energy consumption, the more points you gain.

According to EcoGeek.org, “All homeowners in the online community would be competing, but also working together for a common good.” The concept is based on other popular online games, such as “World of Warcraft” and “Second Life.” A demo video is available below.