# Demand Response Requirements from the Cultural, Social, and Behavioral Perspectives
## 6 Discussion, Solutions, and Outlook
### Solutions  
It might be difficult to assess customer awareness and knowledge of customers regarding DR technologies. In fact, power utilities are either not measuring or not disclosing this information to the public. Even more challenging is determining the success of utilities' DR marketing programs; since DR technology marketing is often a part of the larger marketing effort centered on the smart grid program. Therefore, prior to implementing DR programs and throughout its initial stages, power utilities should undertake extensive marketing to promote their DR technologies, including public events, mailings, and a door-to-door campaign.  
Several DR stakeholders suggested establishing an appropriate mechanism for power utilities to provide information and technical assistance to mitigate the lack of staff knowledge and capability, the need for intra-organizational coordination and communication, and the risk associated with DR availability. For example, a regional entity could be determined to establish regional information and technical forum for DR program development and deployment.  
Furthermore, with the proper communication, marketing, and program design, customer barriers to DR involvement can be overcome. There is also a lot of information about which clients are the most receptive to DR programs. Power system operators can reduce customer perception barriers by accumulating and sharing insights and lessons learned from DR pilots and research studies.  
Participants should be guided into DSM programs with a great care. A robust human-machine interface is essential to assist responsive customers to participate in DR programs. In addition, participants should be guided and informed suitably about the system functions. People will not grasp how the system works if they are not well-informed. Thismight be remedied by some activities, such as conducting meetings and describing the DR projects to participants and delivering door-to-door information. However, such actions are not scalable and only work if volunteers are available. For instance, residential DR programs enter people's private life. Thus, they need to be informed before they participate, and the emotional experience of participation should not be overlooked.  
Moreover, given the organizations' objectives to be profitable, the dissemination of information demonstrating the monetary value of DR could be a crucial enabler in combating the lack of power and culture inside an organization. It may not be straightforward because companies do not always act rationally. Therefore, broad education on the benefits of DR is necessary to overcome any cultural barriers.  
The process of influencing end-user preferences (e.g., attitudes on trading convenience for cash or allowing third-party control of devices) to enable DR is challenging. Preference evolution is a complicated process that involves several feedback loops. As a result, there is no easy enabler. However, actions such as changing social norms through affecting perceptions of energy consumption or modifying laws and regulations to communicate those changed norms may impact user values. However, the critical point is how to deal with the inertia barrier. For example, ensuring that information is transmitted correctly can improve inertia barriers by making sure users are fully aware of the benefits.  
Finally, it may be more practicable to enable DR by overcoming trust concerns. While trust in existing energy system actors may be limited, DR may be facilitated by partnering with new third parties. The source of information is the most important factor in motivating DR program usage.