Alex Laskey, who co-founded the company Opower, gave a TED talk in February explaining what works and what fails when it comes to getting utility customers to switch over from air conditioners to fans during the summer and save energy.

In the talk, which is now posted on TED.com, he explains that Opower's goal in 2013 is to help 80 utilities across six countries generate two terawatt hours (TWh) in energy savings. The secret, he explains is using behavioral science and data to motivate people in the right way.

Laskey discusses a study performed using four motivating factors produced clear results about what worked and failed.

"One quarter of the homes received a message that said, 'Did you know you could save $54 a month this summer? Turn off your air conditioning; turn on your fans," Laskey said. "Another group got an environmental message, and still a third group got a message about being good citizens preventing blackouts."

In the end, the winner turned out to be a fourth door hangar that told customers that 77% of their neighbors surveyed were shutting off their air conditioning and turning on their fans.

Want to hear the rest of the story? We recommend spending eight minutes and watching his talk below.