Dr. Dylan Brewer, Assistant Professor in the School of Economics at Georgia Institute of Technology, will present a lecture entitled, "Do people listen when it matters? Estimating household responses to government requests to conserve energy using smart thermostat data". Dr. Brewer earned his Ph.D. in Economics with a dual major in Environmental Science and Policy from Michigan State University specializes in energy and environmental economics, with research interests spanning applied microeconomics, industrial organization, public economics, and urban economics. His research explores the intersection of energy usage, environmental policy, and human behavior, with notable publications examining topics such as residential energy markets, electricity usage patterns during COVID-19, and the relationship between extreme temperatures and housing evictions. His work has been published in prestigious journals including the Journal of Applied Econometrics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.

In this lecture, Dr. Brewer will present findings from his latest research study which examines how people respond to emergency conservation requests during energy crises. This study focuses on a real-world natural experiment that occurred during the 2019 polar vortex in Michigan, when record-breaking cold temperatures coincided with a fire at a major natural gas facility. As temperatures plummeted to dangerous lows and natural gas demand soared, Michigan faced a potential system-wide failure. The utility company and state government asked residents to reduce their thermostat settings to 65°F to prevent widespread outages. Using data from smart thermostats, Dr. Brewer tracks how households responded to these emergency appeals. With aging infrastructure increasing the frequency of energy crises, understanding how to effectively communicate with the public during crises could help prevent catastrophic failures of our energy systems. His talk will explore what this natural experiment teaches us about emergency communication, the economics and psychology of conservation, and how small individual actions can collectively prevent major disasters.