When this year’s batch of new students at Masdar Institute signed up for their courses, they expected they would be there to learn and conduct research. They might not, however, have suspected that they would be the subjects of a Big Brother-style social experiment. Other researchers will be watching them closely; not for their personal interactions and flirtations, as in the popular television show, but something much simpler — their bills. They will be the subjects of a year-long investigation into which incentives encourage people to use less energy and water. Read More
