To increase customer awareness of energy efficiency needs and relevant programs, many organizations have turned to advertising. Faced with the costs of mass media exposure, and recognizing the potential of the Internet several have also developed and promoted websites with energy-efficiency information. The value and equity of using the Internet to disseminate this information can be questioned, however. Although use of the Internet continues to grow and differences in access between socioeconomic groups are narrowing, the "digital divide" has not disappeared. This problem would be mitigated, however, if customers who use websites promoting energy efficiency utilize and disseminate the information they acquire. This study explores the characteristics of people who visit a website for energy-efficiency programs and their diffusion of information from that site. It is based on telephone interviews of 88 respondents, drawn from the Wisconsin Focus on Energy pilot territory. Each respondent visited the program website and was interviewed in Spring, 2001. Each was reinterviewed in December and asked about relevant actions in the intervening period. Their self-reports indicate continuing use of the website, use of information from the website to perform energy-saving projects, and diffusion of energy-efficiency information. Although it seems reasonable to discount the self-reports to some degree, their consistency and the volume of activity reported suggest that those visiting the website are indeed agents of information diffusion. Accordingly, organizations promoting energy efficiency should invest in informational websites, even if those websites do not currently attract a broadly representative clientele. It also follows that these organizations should construct their websites to take advantage of design elements and features that will encourage repeat visits and "buzz."
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