Energy Neighbourhood Publishable Report...The focus of the competition was to raise awareness of...

Energy Neighbourhood

“Bet to win!”

The climate competition between municipalities

and their citizens

2

Energy Neighbourhoods Report

TABLE OF CONTENT:

1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 3

2. SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT ........................................................ 4

3. WORK PROGRAMME OVERVIEW ....................................................................... 5

3.1 PREPARING THE CAMPAIGNS .............................................................................................. 6

3.2 COMMUNICATION KITS ...................................................................................................... 6

3.3 DEVELOPMENT OF THE ONLINE TOOL .............................................................................. 8

EXCURSUS: REPORT ON COOLING ......................................................................................... 13

3.4 TRAINING ON THE ONLINE TOOL .................................................................................... 20

3.5 THE REGIONAL CAMPAIGNS AND BET .............................................................................. 21

3.6. THE EUROPEAN PRIZE GALA IN BRUSSELS ...................................................................... 24

3.7 LOCAL CLIMATE DEBATES ................................................................................................ 27

3.8 COMMUNICATION AND DISSEMINATION .......................................................................... 27

4. EVALUATION OF THE EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOODS...........................33

4.1 CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PARTICIPANTS ..................................................................... 33

4.2 MAIN ENERGY SAVING MEASURES .................................................................................... 33

4.3 ACHIEVED SAVINGS ......................................................................................................... 34

4.4 EUROPEAN WINNERS ....................................................................................................... 35

4.5 FACTORS OF SUCCESS ....................................................................................................... 36

4.6 CHALLENGES ................................................................................................................... 37

5. FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE: IMPLEMENTING THE ENERGY

NEIGHBOURHOODS ..................................................................................................38

6. FINALE ..................................................................................................................46

6.1 PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ............................................................................................ 46

6.2 SUCCESS STORIES ............................................................................................................. 47

6.3 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................. 49

8. PARTNER CONSORTIUM .......................................................................................51

The sole responsibility for the content of this report lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Euro-

pean Communities. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained

therein.

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The European Project Team in Antwerp

1. Introduction

The Energy Neighbourhood project wanted to bring climate protection policies closer to the people - into

their living rooms - to inspire and encourage communities to achieve energy savings through changes in

behaviour alone. Some eight to 12 households formed a team, the so-called ’Energy Neighbourhood’, and

competed with other neighbourhoods. Every neighbourhood also accepted a bet offered by the city: the

goal was to make energy savings of at least 8% over a six month period, compared to the same period

the previous year. Each team is coached by an ‘Energy Master’ who pulls the team together and provides

the right incentives. Last but not least, the municipality plays the role of referee and supporter, by

informing their citizens on how to save enegry, organising get togethers and ensuring that the teams

aobided by the rules. The Energy Neighbourhood project grew from an initiative originally developed in

Belgium and was rolled out to eight other European countries.

Almost 6000 households from 9 different countries in Europe took up the challenge to show that it is

possible to have a large impact on energy use and climate protection while saving money.

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The results are inspiring: The Energy Neighbourhood teams all over Europe achieved an average energy

saving of 10% compared to the previous year, using 9,150,000 kWh less energy, saving 3320 tons of CO2

accordingly. All together the groups spent ca. 250.000 Euro (EU ø €/kWh) less onenergy during the

campaign year.

The project has proven that simple and cost effective measures such as using energy saving lamps,

disabling standby or switching off the lights when not needed really makes a difference.

2. Short description of the project

The Energy Neighbourhood project was launched in the autumn and the competition in the cities begun

on the 1st of November 2008 as a Europe-wide energy saving competition, in which about 600

neighbourhoods from Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United

Kingdom participated.

The focus of the competition was to raise awareness of behavioural change and how it can be used to save

energy around the home. The goal of the participants was to save as much household energy as possible

for both themselves and their neighbourhood through simple and cost effective measures such as changes

in user behaviour, using energy saving lamps and disabling stand-by. All participants of the project were

supported by the national project coordinators, the municipali-

ties and last but not least by the energy masters, to save 8% en-

ergy in 6 month.

An additional element to the project was to help raise awareness

and further the wider community’s involvement in climate pro-

tection. The project partners initiated or supported climate de-

bates with citizens and local authorities. The climate debates

functioned as a platform for cities and citizens to exchange ideas

and make recommendations on how local solutions might help

climate protection.

At the start of the 6 month push to reduce household energy consumption, each country held an event to

launch the project and held interim events and information evenings for the participants over the next 6

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months. The coordinators sent energy saving tips and provided energy self checks as well as individual

energy audits for the households. All these activities helped to inform and motivate the participants.

A web-based calculation tool, the Online Tool, provided an overview of the energy savings achieved by

each household and functioned as an important control instrument. The energy data for the same period

of the previous year was inputted into the calculation tool. This provided a benchmark against which

current meter readings, taken throughout the 6 month period, were compared.

Based on these results an evaluation of the savings was conducted and the Energy Neighbourhoods that

saved 8% of energy or even more where identified and became winners of the project. All participants

were invited to one of the Regional Award Ceremonies in summer 2009.

Following these national awards a European Prize Event, as one of the highlights of the project, was or-

ganised in Brussels. The best savers from each country were invited to Brussels and were awarded interna-

tionally.

Not all participants received an award, however, the average energy saving of 10% and reduction of 3320

tons of CO₂ emitted in private homes around Europe shows the high potential of the European Energy

Neighbourhoods competition. Participants have proven that their participation and their engagement for

energy saving does matter and that energy efficiency can be a way of combating climate change.

3. Work programme Overview

Following the principle: Think global, act local! Energy efficiency and energy savings in households

were boosted and therefore carbon emissions reduced.

This was achieved by organizing a bet between the community and their citizens. Groups of households

referred to as ‘Energy Neighbourhoods’ had to save as much energy as possible. They were supported by

‘Energy Masters’ – volunteers who were specially prepared and trained during the project. The local

community presented an award to each Energy Neighbourhood which achieved an average energy saving

in their households of 8% or more during the six months of the competition. The three best Energy

Neighbourhoods were presented with an additional prize at an international ceremony in Brussels. In

addition, local climate debates were implemented to make the project continuous and sustainable.

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In the following the central elements of the project will be described.

3.1 Preparing the campaigns

The project partners established a relationship with their municipalities at the beginning of the project and

set up regional working groups to prepare the campaign and discuss the strategy in each country. The aim

was to identify the needs of the target group and the special requirements in each participating region.

To implement the project successfully the most important step was to identify those households and

neighbourhoods that were interested in taking part in the Energy Neighbourhood project. Energy

Neighbourhoods could be members of sports clubs, groups

of tenant representatives within a block of flats, agenda

groups, special interest associations or such like. The individ-

ual number of Energy Neighbourhoods per country de-

pended on the number and size of participating municipali-

ties in each country and upon the regional structure.

In order to find potential participants for the project all

channels of communication were used: local newspapers

presented the project idea, flyers were given out and posters

were hung up. Different cities presented the project during

city festivals and radio interviews were given in order to at-

tract as many people as possible. The municipalities and the

project partners often used existing contacts of socially-

environmentally committed citizens in order to build Energy

Neighbourhoods from the bottom up.

In addition to this, Energy Masters had to be identified. The Energy Masters were committed citizens

appointed within the respective Energy Neighbourhoods and were supposed to support the group to save

as much energy as possible and to win the bet.

3.2 Communication Kits

For starting off the competition in all countries and to help the participants to successfully take part in the

competition, a communication kit for cities, energy masters and households was developed and translated

in all languages.

Poster Energy Neighbourhoods Belgium

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Communication kit for participating municipalities

At the beginning of the project, participating municipalities received information material on the projects’

objectives and implementation structure. They also received communication materials to help them form

Energy Neighbourhoods. The communication materials included:

� Detailed manual for municipalities of “Energy Neighbourhoods”

� Poster and leaflet

� Standard press releases

Communication kit for Energy Masters

Energy Masters received supporting materials to help them work effectively within their Energy

Neighbourhoods. Their task was to guide their group in the field of energy saving, to distribute campaign

materials and be responsible for inputting the meter data into the online toolkit. They received a detailed

manual on the project including:

� The projects’ objectives and implementation structure

� Information on the communication materials for the households and how to use them

Additionally Energy Masters received an Online Tool training course and had the opportunity to discuss

problems with the municipalities and the project partners. At the beginning of the project, they were pro-

vided with energy/cost meters to measure stand-by in their Energy Neighbourhoods.

Communication kit for households

The households were the main actors in the energy saving bet. Besides the guidance from the Energy

Masters, the neighbourhoods received supporting materials to help encourage energy saving. During the

opening meeting in the different municipalities, the participating households received the following:

� A metering chart to fill in their energy data

� A small scale energy audit which they could conduct themselves (in form of a questionnaire re-

flecting the current state of good practice and habits in the individual households)

� An information leaflet on the project

� A manual for the use of the website

� A poster

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3.3 Development of the Online Tool

To successfully implement and support the national campaigns of the energy saving bet, a comprehensive

Tool Kit has been developed for all participating countries. This Online Tool was needed to help measure

the energy savings made by the participants as individual households and as a neighbourhood. The al-

ready existing Online Tool from the forerunner project Klimaatwjiken was developed and adapted for all

countries and languages involved in the Energy Neighbourhood Project. The aim was to have an energy

saving calculation tool which could easily be adjusted and maintained by all European partners. For the

online tool to work, the participating households had to produce the following information: the consump-

tion of electricity and gas for the same period the previous year (this could be taken from bills); the meter

data and the fuel use. Moreover, households had the opportunity to indicate changes within the household

in comparison to the previous year. For instance, when there is one person more or less living in the

household or there is more or less space to be heated in the house. These comments were important and

useful to understand the development of the energy use, which is essential for this project. The energy

calculation tool was a web based application and the energy data was filled in by the Energy Master or the

households themselves on a weekly base.

Campaign Material Italy

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Theoretical background of the Online Tool

The calculation methods and the results of the calculations were the basis for the comparison of the

neighbourhoods. Therefore it is essential to gain insight into the functioning of the calculation methods.

There were three main issues that had to be taken into account, when developing the online tool:

� Division of energy usage into the different household applications (e.g. central heating, warm wa-

ter, cooking, etc.)

� Impact of temperature and seasons on heating and on the usage of electricity and sanitary hot wa-

ter

� Making sure that the measured periods were comparable

In order to get compatible data each participant of the competition had to provide certain information,

such as cooking method (electric kitchen stove, gas, etc.), heating method (oil, gas, electric heating, wood,

etc.) and how sanitary water is heated up. This information was entered into the online tool at the begin-

ning of the competition and built the base for further calculations.

The web tool calculated the percentage of gas and electricity, which the different types of methods con-

tain. The basis for this calculation was historical data and statistics.

The division was important since for instance changes in temperature have influence on the energy con-

sumption. However, they do only affect particular parts of the energy consumption. Mainly they affect the

energy used for heating and to a certain extent the production of hot water. Nevertheless, the changes in

temperature have no influence on the energy used for cooking. Thus, each type of usage had to be

adapted individually.

For this reason gas was divided into:

� Central heating

� Production of hot water

� Cooking

And electricity was divided into:

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� Central heating

� Production of hot water

� Cooking

� Other

Impact of temperature and seasons on the energy consumption

Central heating:

The energy used for central heating depends on the outside temperature. The outside temperature com-

poses of a number of degree days. A degree day is defined by the number of degrees below 16.5°C. In the

case that the average temperature lies above 16.5°C, the degree days of this day is zero. This method is

based on the assumption that when it is warmer than 16.5°C, it is not necessary to heat up the house.

Calculation example: Assuming the average temperature of one day is 10°C, this day has 6.5°C degree days

(16.5-10=6.5).

Production of hot water:

The outside temperature has a rather small impact on the energy consumption of hot water and the influ-

ence has a delay. Normally, in the winter slightly more hot water is used than in the summer. When it

freezes the temperature of the water cools down a few days later. More energy is needed to heat up the

water, however not immediately, but a few days later. Such days are called “hot-water-days”.

Cooking:

The energy use for cooking does not depend on the outside temperature.

Other uses of electricity:

The use of electricity is impacted by the outside temperature to a very small extent. Since during the win-

tertime lights are on longer and people spend more time inside, the use of electricity increases slightly.

Comparability of measured periods

The period that was used to compare the measured energy usage (reference period) had to include a win-

ter and had to be a minimum of nine month. The competition was running for six month. Thus, in order

to compare the two periods, both the reference and the measured data had to be converted to one year in

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order to find out the correct reference use and the correct measured use. In the following part, the formu-

las used for the conversion are explained.

Formulas for conversion of reference use

1st step:

The reference use “gas used for central heating” is converted to a standard reference use (Corrected Ref-

erenc-useaCV ), by carrying out a correction concerning temperature (degree-days) and a time-correction

(period):

Corrected Referenc-useaCV = N° of kWh in reference period * average N° of degree days in one year N° of degree days in reference period

2nd step:

The reference use “gas used for hot water” is converted to a standard reference use (Corrected Referenc-

useaWW ), by carrying out a correction on temperature (warm-water-days) and a time-correction (period):

Corrected Referenc-useaWW = N° of kWh in reference period *average N° hot water-days/year (365) N° of warm-water-days in reference period

Online tool where reference and measured data had to be entered

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3rd step:

The reference use “gas used for cooking” is converted to a standard reference use (Corrected Referenc-

useaKO ), by carrying out a time-correction (period):

Corrected -useaKO = N° of kWh in reference period *365 N° of days in reference period

4th step:

The calculations for electricity were equivalent to the calculations for gas. To correct the other uses of

electricity, an extra correction with the “electricity days” is necessary. The end results for electricity have

to be multiplied with 2.5 (conversion to primary usage) in order to take the fuel which is needed for the

production of electricity into account.

Finally, the results of the gas and electricity conversions can be added up.

Formulas for conversion of measured use

The measured use is converted likewise as the reference use:

Corrected measured-useaCV = N° of kWh in measured period *average number degree-days/year N° of degree-days in measured period

Comparing the correct usages

Concluding for each application (aCV, aKO, aWW, aDI, eCV, etc.) had to be calculated how much per-

cent the correct measured usage differed from the correct reference usage. In this way the energy saving

percentage of a participant was calculated.

To calculate the percentage of the whole district not the average of all percentages was taken, but all pri-

mary usages of the participants and the measure- and reference period of all participants together were

compared. Due to this, someone with very high energy consumption weighted heavily and someone with

low energy consumption weighted less in the calculation.

It has to be noted that it is very difficult to integrate everything that influences the consumption of energy

into the calculation and into the web tool. For instance the degree days were actually measured in Ukkel,

in the centre of Flanders. However, on the west-coast of Europe the weather is more temperate and the

winters are much milder than in the east of Europe. Thus, it was necessary measure the degree days for

each European region. Another example is the use of central heating. Not only the outside temperature,

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but also wind, behaviour, the type of boiler the household has, etc. influence the energy used for central

heating. However, these influences were not included in the calculation. Therefore, it has to be acknowl-

edged that it was not possible to integrate everything that might have impacted the energy consumption

into the calculation.

Excursus: Report on Cooling

In most countries the biggest part of the energy consumption goes to the heating of the dwelling. How-

ever, dwellings in Mediterranean countries use energy on cooling during summertime. Based on the idea

of heating degree days – as the biggest factor for energy consumption for heating – the methodology can

be transferred to energy demand for cooling by defining ‘cooling degree days’.

Heating Degree Days

Dwellings are heated because the outdoor temperature is lower than the required temperature indoor and

because heat from the indoor is lost to the environment. The lower the outdoor temperature, the higher

the heat losses are and the more heat has to be supplied by the heating system. Colder months need more

heating, in summer no heating is required. Temperatures fluctuate a lot through the year, but also from

one year to another; a December month in year X might be much colder than in year Y.

In order to be able to compare heat consumption from one year to another, the method of heating degree

days (HDD) has been introduced. It multiplies the difference between indoor and outdoor temperature

with the time. When this figure is multiplied with a power/degree ratio (W/K losses) the required energy

is obtained. When the average difference between indoor and outdoor temperature is 5 °C during a day,

we obtain 5 Heating Degree Days (5 °C x 1 day).

The temperature difference between indoor and outdoor is the main weather condition that defines the

required heat. But there are also other conditions influencing the heat load, in positive or negative way:

- Solar radiation on walls but mainly through walls

- Building IR radiation to the sky

- Wind

- Humidity and rain

- …

Also building occupation conditions influence the heat load:

- Occupancy heat release (100 – 200 W/person)

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- Electrical appliances in use

- …

As from a certain outdoor temperature the heat losses to the ambient are fully compensated by free heat

(mainly internal and solar) and no heating is required. The temperature of this equilibrium is called the

‘temperature without heating’. Another factor is that the heat load today is also influenced to some extent

by the temperature conditions of yesterday and the day before.

For example in Belgium they define ‘degree day 16,5 °C’ and use a part of the temperature of the actual

day but also of the 2 proceeding days (60 % day, 30 % day-1, 10 % day-2):

http://aardgas.gasinfo.be/nl/?over/graaddagen in Dutch or http://gaznaturel.gazinfo.be/fr/?gaz-

naturel/degres-jours in French.

This results in following data over the past 40 years:

As can be seen, actually in Ukkel – Belgium there are +/- 2250 HDD, and this figure is decreasing with

0.4 % per year. It is clear that figures will vary al lot from country to country, in big countries also from

region to region.

To illustrate that there is a good relationship between HDD and actual consumption, some graphs are

shown from individual dwellings where detailed monitoring has been conducted:

Degrés-jours (DJ) 16,5 équivalents à UCCLE

Graaddagen (GD) 16,5 equivalent te UKKEL

1500

1700

1900

2100

2300

2500

2700

2900

3100

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Année - Jaar

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Example 1

The relation is pretty well (consumption in litre fuel per day, heating degree days per month) but there is

still some variation from month to month, which means a number of dwellings should be considered to

have good averages.

Example 2

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

0510152025

Degrés-Jours

He

ure

s d

e f

on

cti

on

ne

me

nt

pa

r jo

ur

1er hiver

2ème hiver

3ème hiver

4ème hiver

Linear (3ème

Relation DegréJour - Chauffage

y = 0.8488x - 16.435

R2 = 0.9551

-50

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

DegréJour

Co

nso

mm

ati

on

(l/m

ois

)

16


Once again the relation is pretty well (consumption in hours of boiler functioning per day, heating degree

days per day). The increased consumption the first year is due to the ‘drying out’ of the building (evapora-

tion heat and lower insulation properties because of higher water content in insulation materials), a well

known phenomenon.

Example 3

In this example, the relation is good, but a certain downward shift seemed to be noticed. This shift might

be the result of the use of wood, not calculated in the gas consumption per month. (consumption in kWh

gas per month, heating degree days per month)

The calculation tools uses this method for calculation (see above), based on the heating degree days from

near weather metering stations. Because this data is not available in the running month, for short term

saving projections, averages of the same day of the 4 previous years are used. This data is only used for

running campaign purposes; the final reported savings at the end of a campaign is always calculated with

real heating degree days.

Cooling Degree Days

With regard to cooling, the first issue that has to be raised is what temperature is acceptable in dwellings.

It will be clear that whereas in winter 20-22 °C is a good temperature, in the summer season this tempera-

ture may raise somewhat. The summer comfort temperature however depends on a lot of factors:

- Clothing

- Activity

RV: re latie verbru ik - g raaddagen

-200.0

0.0

200.0

400.0

600.0

800.0

1000.0

1200.0

1400.0

0.0 50.0 100.0 150.0 200.0 250.0 300.0 350.0 400.0 450.0 500.0

graad dag en (g rd/m aand)

ve

rbru

ik (

KW

h/m

aan

d)

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- Personal acceptance

Not everybody will feel comfortable at the same temperature. Some approaches define the PPD – level

(percentage of dissatisfaction) in relation to the room temperature.

It can be deducted that an indoor summer temperature of 25 to 26 °C is appreciated by most people (in

winter this is different, partly due to the difference in clothing).

Another issue is the adaptation of people: when it is cold outside, lower inside temperatures will be ac-

cepted whereas at high outside temperatures, much higher inside temperatures will be regarded as com-

fortable.

seated

light work

6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 2418

20

22

24

26

28

30

Te,ref

(°C)

Ti,o (

°C)

65% acceptatie

80% acceptatie

90% acceptatie

A B C

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Influencing parameters

The need for cooling also depends on a number of parameters. In some cases these parameters are exactly

the same, although they work in the opposite direction. For other parameters the relation with cooling is

not that straight forward as they are for heating.

Most important parameters are discussed hereafter:

� Building envelope insulation: Insulation prevents heat escaping from the dwelling, as well as pre-

venting heat from the outside entering the house. Under conditions with higher outside tempera-

tures, insulation will reduce the cooling need. However, due to all kinds of ‘free energy’ inside the

dwelling, as explained before, the inside temperature will be higher than the outside temperature.

In some cases it is possible that the inside temperature passes the summer comfort level of 25-26

°C even with lower outside temperatures around 20 °C. In that condition, insulation prevents

heat escaping from the building and increases the cooling load.

� Ventilation: Ventilation acts somewhat similar as insulation because it feeds air at outside tem-

perature into the building; therefore, ventilation will decrease or increase the cooling load de-

pending on outside temperatures being below or above inside temperature. Some special ventila-

tion conditions are:

o Intensive (night) ventilation

o Heat exchangers

o Soil to air heat exchangers

Because it is unlikely that they are present in a lot of housings, they are not discussed in detail.

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� Much more then for heating, solar irradiation influences the need for cooling. Cooling load is re-

lated to the surface and orientation of glazed parts, as well as all kind of solar protection (fixed or

controllable).

� Thermal mass is not very important for heating load, but can be substantial for cooling load. Ac-

cessible thermal mass in the building (concrete, brickwork, etc.) stores heat and releases it in al

later phase. The results are dual: heat peaks are dephased but also lowered.

Out of this discussion, it should be clear that a prediction of cooling load is much more complex than it is

for heating. Where for heating, outside temperature and building insulation are the main parameters, for

cooling we need to have a look not only at temperature but also at solar radiation, were the effect of this

solar radiation differs strongly for various buildings, depending upon the actual exposure. Only dynamic

simulations can give a good idea of what happens with the summer temperature. It was clear that this was

far from practical for the Energy Neighbourhood campaign.

As a compromise, an alternative method has been used, in which, in analogy with heating, the concept of

cooling degree days (CDD) has been introduced. This concept multiplies time with the difference between

the actual outside temperature and a temperature without cooling. The exact formula of how cooling de-

gree days are used in the calculation is written in 1.2.2). For most countries this temperature without cool-

ing is set at a relative high temperature of 25 °C; it is clear that some households will run cooling appli-

ances at much lower temperatures whereas other households don’t use any cooling at all. Due to the much

higher variability, compared to heating, this concept needs high numbers of households to obtain the

desired accuracy.

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It will be clear that campaigns running in winter period will hardly be influenced by the cooling needs

calculation. Further, cooling energy is only taken into account in the Energy Neighbourhoods campaign in

one southern European country, Spain.

3.4 Training on the Online Tool

The consortium partners, municipalities and most importantly, the Energy Masters, were trained to under-

stand and to be able to apply the Online Tool. The Energy masters were continuously supported and, if

necessary, received additional training during the bet. Due to the bottom-up approach of the project, the

role of the Energy Master was crucial.

As a first step all project partners received training in the Online Tool from the Belgium Online Tool

developer. They received training materials in English and translated them into their national language and

adapted them to their national requirements to be able to provide the municipalities’ representatives with

instructions.

The second step entailed the municipalities and Energy Masters being trained to use the Online Tool.

Effective training and sufficient support for the Energy Masters was essential.

The Energy Masters furthermore received a set of tools to communicate with their Energy Neighbour-

hoods:

� Campaign and communication materials such as leaflets, posters, brochures with energy sav-

ing tips

� Small scale energy audit tool to quickly check how easy or difficult it would be to win the bet

→ Households answer questionnaires to determine their level

� Energy/cost meter to measure stand-by and detect large electricity users

� Metering chart where households could write down their meter data → Data had to be

transferred on the website

� Energy saving calculation tool. The Energy Masters had to fill in the metering data and dis-

cuss with the group the individual as well as the group results of the energy savings

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3.5 The Regional Campaigns and bet

After setting up the structures, finding participants and Energy Masters, developing communication and

training material and developing and testing the online tool in all countries the bet and campaign in all

countries could be started and the Energy Neighbourhoods took up the challenge to save 8% of energy

over 6 months.

Opening event and campaign

The official start of the bet was in November 2008. Every municipality organized an official opening of

the campaign with all participating Energy

Neighbourhoods. The neighbourhoods received in-

formation such as:

� Operational information on the project and

bet

� Brochures on heating, ventilation

� Information on energy-efficient behaviour

and appliances

� Information on other energy related topics,

e.g. sustainable goods consumption or public transportation etc. were also circulated

Opening event in France

Kick-off event in Karlskrona (Sweden)

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The Energy Masters of each Neighbourhood got an energy/cost meter to measure the efficiency of their

participant household appliances and stand-by losses.

The opening events were really a social event. All participants had the opportunity to meet the respective

representatives of their municipalities and the national coordinators. The participants exchanged energy

saving tips and their experiences with the daily energy consumption and could meet their competitors.

Climate bet

The climate bet encompassed energy and

heat consumption. In order to be able to

compare and evaluate the results of the

project in various European countries the

metering period had to be performed si-

multaneously in the partner countries.

Course of action

� 1st November 08: First official me-

ter readings had to be made available.

� November 08 – January 09: The Energy Neighbourhoods organized themselves and worked out

their own way of communicating with their Energy Master.

The Energy Neighbourhoods received advice from their Energy Master, who provided informa-

tion materials etc. Project partners and municipalities supported the Energy Neighbourhoods

with organising special information events or sending out Energy Saving Tips.

� February 09: Interim results were calculated and evaluated and presented during an Interim Event

to all Energy Neighbour-

hoods.

� 31st March or 30th April 09:

Last official meter readings

were taken and savings were

calculated.

Tasks of the Energy Masters

The Energy Masters had three basic

tasks:

Opening event in Muenster (Germany)

Energy Masters in Sweden

23


� They were the guides of their group and provided their team with the necessary information

about the project and about energy saving. They kept the spirit alive.

� Energy Masters were required to distribute and explain the campaign material. They helped sup-

port the organisational structure of their team.

� Energy Masters had the responsibility for the metering data of their group and the calculation of

the energy savings on the website. Even if the households filled in their metering data themselves,

the Energy Master was still in the end responsible for it.

The Energy Masters were continuously supported by the municipalities and the coordination partners.

Evaluation of results

The results of all Energy Neighbourhoods in each participating country were collected and evaluated.

The following method was used to calculate the achieved energy savings compared to the previous year:

The phase of the previous year, which corresponded to the bet, was back-calculated on the basis of the

energy bills from that year and with the web based calculation tool. This data was compared with the me-

ter readings taken during the bet. In this way the “Energy Neighbourhood” winners, who saved at least

8% of energy, were identified. In addition, all Energy Neighbourhoods were compared to each other and

the national and international winners were determined.

Local Award Ceremony

National coordinators and municipali-

ties organized a Local Award Cere-

mony during the Summer of 2009. The

Neighbourhoods that saved 8% of

energy or more and the Energy Mas-

ters that contributed to this success

were awarded with a prize.

At the end of the bet, the five best

Energy Neighbourhoods nationally and

the three best Energy Neighbourhoods

internationally were identified. The results were included into the benchmark database. National winners

were awarded with prizes such as energy saving packages e.g. including fleece blankets, light bulls etc.,

solar games or vouchers for organic stores. The special prize was a trip to the International Award Cere-

mony in Brussels for the best energy savers from each country

Local Award Ceremony in Bulgaria

24


3.6. The European Prize Gala in Brussels

After the regional Award Ceremo-

nies were held in each of the par-

ticipating regions of the nine coun-

tries, the best Energy Neighbour-

hoods, in absolute energy savings

across all countries were awarded

internationally. The European

Award Ceremony was held in

Brussels in connection with the

final project partners meeting. All

European Network partners par-

ticipated in the Ceremony. The

European Prize Event was organised in the Swedish Representation in Brussels with more than 100 par-

ticipants.

International Award Ceremony in Brussels

Local Award Ceremony in England

25


Awards

The three households with the greatest energy savings were awarded internationally.

During the award ceremony in Brussels they had the opportunity to present their ideas and the methods

they used to save as much energy as possible within six month.

Interview with the Energy Masters of the Winning Team from Sweden

Team Ahlgren, 1st place at the European level, Energy Saved: 37%

Lena Eckerberg, ESS: Why did you decide to participate in this challenge?

M/F Ahlgren: It was the opportunity of compete that caught our attention. We were already very inter-

ested in energy and environmental issues. When we bought our house we installed solar panels and we

drive a drive a fuel efficient car.

Lena Eckerberg, ESS: How did you recruit the members to your energy neighborhood?

M/F Ahlgren: We asked our neighbors and recruited one family in our village. We also asked friends and

colleagues. We tried to involve families who we thought had a large potential to save energy, because we

joined the bet to win!

Lena Eckerberg, ESS: What saving measures did you put in practice?

Winning Neighbourhood from Italy

26


M/F Ahlgren: We have no standard light bulbs any more. More or less all lighting is LED or low energy

bulbs. We have reduced a lot of stand-by. We were surprised to find so much standby power in our

homes. Also, before buying new appliances we always try to replace old ones with more energy efficient

products. We have changed our habits and have no useless power consumption.

Lena Eckerberg: Have the bet changed your energy behavior outside your home, for instance at work?

M/F Ahlgren: Yes, actually. I cannot help it, but I really must turn of the light when passing an empty

room at my office.

Lena Eckerberg: What benefits have you achieved through your participation in the challenge?

M/F Ahlgren: The challenge has strengthened the relations in the group, we have certainly saved money

and enjoyed. We have also become local celebrities in the town which is fun. We have hopefully inspired

other people!

Lena Eckerberg: Which lessons have you learned in your participation?

M/F Ahlgren: We have a raised awareness and we have seen that small changes in habits at home do give

results! We have not made any major changes in life style, we still have a comfortable home and life, it is

really the small measures that count and they do not require big efforts.

27


3.7 Local climate debates

In order to strengthen the communication between the municipalities and its citizens, local climate de-

bates were set up in all countries. The aim was to implement the idea of energy saving into a continuous

communication process between citizens and cities. With the beginning of the actual bet, the local climate

debate was initiated as well. The Energy Neighbourhoods got the chance to challenge and influence their

municipalities. They were able to discuss with the municipalities how they could further support them and

the participating neighbourhoods could suggest energy saving efforts within the administration. During

the project 65 local climate debates took place. A common conclusion among all partner countries was the

fact it wasn’t easy to attract participants to take part of the debates. By merging the debates into other

events or meetings that were already taking place, people attending took a more active part. The best prac-

tice from the Energy Neighbourhoods has been highlighted within the local climate debate and the part-

ners have used the result from the bet to show that it is possible to reduce energy consumption. For many

of the partners the local climate debates have been a useful tool to get especially smaller cities to start

working on the climate issue.

3.8 Communication and Dissemination

The aim was to disseminate the Energy Neighbourhood project, its goals and results as widely as possible.

On the one hand it was intended to reach citizens and to inspire them to become “energy savers” them-

selves on the other hand the project team wanted to reach local, regional, national and European stake-

holders. The dissemination strategy focussed on the main target groups: Citizens, tenant organisations,

housing organisations, house owners, energy agencies and comparable environmental NGOs involved

with the municipalities or Energy Neighbourhoods. Moreover, municipality staff, policy makers, associa-

tions and decision-makers of all levels responsible for environmental and energy issues were part of the

target group. Dissemination channels such as website, newsletters, thematic conferences and printed in-

formation material, were used.

The dissemination activities promoted the project among the European audience in Brussels and, thus

within the European networks. The project was presented at various occasions such as seminars and con-

ferences relating to householders energy saving methods, environmental campaigns and energy policies.

The Energy Neighbourhood presentation was held in Brussels during Green Week and was organized by

the European Commission, and the Open Day, was organized by the Committee of the Regions (CoR)

and the DG Regional Policy of the European Commission. Additionally, the project was presented at

28


different conferences, seminars and workshops that were relevant to energy issues and that that took place

in the participating countries. The aim was to promote the project amongst the expert attending the con-

ferences.

The press in Brussels were continuously informed about the progress of the project. Press releases were

sent to the media coming from different member states of the EU, thus, they could publish it in their

edition. Further, the project partners developed a national or regional mailing list for articles. Articles were

published in various specialised journals in order to reach people, who are specialised or interested in envi-

ronmental issues and energy saving at local level.

Local Dissemination:

As the Energy Neighbourhoods project was mainly performed on a regional level, local media such as

press, newsletters and radio were the main dissemination source.

Article in the British press (Glos Echo)

29


Dissemination materials and Corporate Identity

Different types of information material were released: leaflets, posters, information signs, PowerPoint

presentations, etc. This material was available in different languages.

Title page of first Energy Neighbourhoods newsletter

30


The Logo:

A logo was developed and adapted in all different project languages:

Project Website

A Website with a content management system was created as well. In this way it was guaranteed that each

partner was able to add information frequently.

The European Neighbourhoods website

31


The structure of the Website was:

� Common information concerning the aims of the project

� Contact information of the project partners

� Download section for press articles, brochures and posters

� Intranet for project partner, participating municipalities, “Energy Neighbourhoods” members and

the EACI project officer for the exchange of working materials and as a chat platform

� Link to the web based calculation tool (part of the tool kit)

� News section with current information about the bet

� Link section with other web pages relating to the tasks and ideas of the “Energy Neighbour-

hoods” project

Business plan

A proposal for a future sustainable framework of “Energy Neighbourhoods” has to be elaborated. Fur-

ther, a business plan and standard procedures for sustainable future implementation and extension of the

“Energy Neighbourhoods” process to other regions and industry sectors, once the Commissions financial

period is expire, has to be developed.

32


Interview with the Energy Masters of the Winning Team from Bulgaria

3rd Place at the European level, Energy Saved: 35.49%

Bogdana Bogdanova: Why did you decide to participate in this challenge?

Mr. Enev: All of us, representing “Zagorka” here today, are teachers. Our school was one of the Cham-

pion schools in the project Active Learning. When you asked us if we want to participate in the challenge

we all said “SURE!” After teaching the children how to save energy all of us – the teachers found out that

actually we are the ones who are wasting energy and found it really interesting to try to save, to reduce our

energy bills. Of course I cannot say that we were not motivated by the idea of the competition and “the

hunger for winning”.

Bogdana Bogdanova: So, what did you change in your behavior?

Mr. Enev: We have certainly said “bye-bye stand by”. You will be surprised to know how much money it

costs you! We have only energy efficient light bulbs now. We try to buy energy efficient appliances and

finally my wife started switching off the lights when leaving the room.

Bogdana Bogdanova: Will you keep on saving energy after the bet?

Mr. Enev: Of course! When you once start, you find it difficult to stop. We will not go back to our pre-

vious habits. We will continue to work on our energy consumption with the energy monitoring equipment

that we received as an award for the participation in Energy Neighbourhoods. Being able to see your ac-

tual consumption in every moment makes the monitoring even more interesting. It is really interesting to

be able to see your energy consumption every single moment.

Bogdana Bogdanova: Which lessons have you learned in your participation?

Mr. Enev: We have beaten the energy myths. We showed ourselves and our colleagues and friends that

for saving energy it is not necessary to lose your comfort. The big change starts with small steps and we’ve

made the first steps.

33


4. Evaluation of the European Neighbourhoods

In order to be able to evaluate the project, a survey was carried out amongst the project partners. They

had to state the achieved results of the Energy Neighbourhoods and answer some other questions relating

to the competition, such as what were the factors of success or failure and which energy saving measures

had been used. In this section, the outcomes of the survey are presented.

4.1 Characterization of the participants

Many of the 587 participating neighbourhoods were from Belgium, as the project had previously been run

in Belgium for 5 years and was already well known. In all other countries an average of 10-30 Energy

Neighbourhoods participated in the project. Since the Energy Neighbourhood project grew from the

Belgium model, the project Klimaatwijken, the high interest in the Belgian project is evidence of the po-

tential of this project to be used in other European countries.

Altogether 5725 households took up the challenge of saving 8% energy in 6 month.

4.2 Main energy saving measures

The aim of the bet was to save as much energy as possible via simple and cost effective measures; the

focus was laid on changing behaviour to save energy. The main measures used by the neighbourhoods to

save energy are listed below:

• Disable stand-by

• Use energy saving lighting

• Reduction of room temperatures with better day/night temperature control

• Change in user behaviour (e.g. showering, light management, rational use of electricity and elec-

tronic equipment)

34


Percentage of energy (CO₂) saved in each country in comparison to the previous year

4.3 Achieved savings

The results of nearly 600 neighbourhoods from 9 different European countries were then evaluated. The

evaluation was based on the complete and comprehensible energy data available for the 6 months of the

bet against the same time period for the previous year.

The following graph illustrates the CO2 savings achieved per country:

Around 60% of the participants were able to win the bet with their municipalities and realised energy sav-

ings of 8% or more in 6 months. 80% of the neighbourhoods saved energy compared to the previous

year’s energy consumption. All participants together achieved an average energy saving of 11%. The en-

ergy saved compared to the previous year amounted to 3320 tons of CO₂ and 9 149 756 kWh.

The graph below shows the average energy savings achieved per country compared to the previous year.

Average energy saved per country in %

35


Swedish winners in Brussels

In comparison to the other participating countries, Bulgaria saved the highest percentage of energy. In

Belgium, the country with the most participants, the people saved 11.17% of energy compared to the

previous year. In general, the competition was successful and each participating country saved energy in

comparison to the previous year. Thus, there is great potential in the participating countries to save energy

also in the future and for other countries to follow the good example of the Energy Neighbourhoods.

4.4 European Winners

The best Energy Savers of the competition from all countries were invited to come to the European

Award Ceremony in Brussels in October 2009. The three neighbourhoods that saved most energy during

the competition received awards. The Swedish neighbourhood team Ahlgren was the European winner

with an energy saving of more than 37, 63% , followed by the Belgium Team “Temse” with energy sav-

ings of 37,6% and the Bulgarian Energy Neighbourhood “Nova Zagora” with savings of 35,49%. The

table below shows the five best Energy Neighbourhoods and their energy savings.

Ranking Energy Neighbourhood Country Average saved energy

in %

1st Team Ahlgren Sweden -37.63%

2nd Temse Belgium -37.6%

3rd Nova Zagora Bulgaria -35.49%

4th Lornay France -24.5%

5th Mirandola Gruppo 2 Italy -22.68%

36


Interview with the Energy Masters of the Winning Team “Temse” from Belgium

2nd place at the European level, Energy saved: 37,6%

Bernard Govaert: Why did you decide to participate in this challenge?

Hilde: it was a way to show you could save energy without big investments. The group-challenge really

appealed.

Bernard Govaert: What’s the best saving tip you’ve got during the campaign?

Hilde: the simple things, turning your light off when you leave the room, turning of your television, turn

the heat a bit lower. It’s amazing how much you can save with a little effort.

Bernard Govaert: Will you keep on saving energy after the bet?

Hilde: Of course, some of the things have become an automatism. We will keep paying attention on ener-

gy spilling.

Bernard Govaert: Which lessons have you learned in your participation?

Hilde: Everybody can save energy, it just a matter of common sense and changing habits.

4.5 Factors of success

The two main reasons for success highlighted by each of the participating countries were:

Working together as a group and developing a team spirit, as well as the strong support of the Energy

Master and the municipalities. Another important factor for some participants was the electronic newslet-

ter with energy saving tips.

The main reasons of success for the project identified by the national co-ordinators are summarized be-

low:

� Group action - being part of a team and contributing to the overall performance

� Support of Energy Master

� Support of municipalities, national co-ordinators and other organisations

� Electronic newsletters with energy saving guidelines every second or third week

� Competition between different groups

� Realistic chance to win the competition

� Appealing campaign

� Good dissemination work

37


4.6 Challenges

There were also several challenges the national coordinators were faced with when setting up the cam-

paign and implementing the bet. Some of the issues the project partners faced could be overcome in the

course of the project. In general these “hands on” experiences can be taken into consideration when plan-

ning future projects, involving citizens as target groups and focussing on saving energy by changing be-

haviour.

� The recruitment of participants was the crucial phase of the project. The partners used all com-

munication channels in order to advertise the project and in the end all countries could meet the

set target.

� Challenge Online Tool: Even though the online tool was designed as a user friendly tool, partici-

pants in all countries had difficulties with using the tool at the beginning. Regular consultation

could overcome these difficulties.

� Difficulties with reading bills and with collecting reference data, e.g. from energy providers.

� The partner consortium did not always succeed in involving new target groups into the project;

they found that many participants were already active or interested in energy effi-

ciency/environmental issues. On the other hand for a large number of households even though

they were aware of potential energy savings and were in theory aware of climate protection issues,

became more motivated when participating in the project.

� Another challenge was to maintain the participants’ motivation during the lifetime of the cam-

paign. The project proved to work very well in this respect, as many information and social events

were organised and the energy masters kept in close contact with their participants and email-

energy saving tips reminded the households to save energy.

� The success of the project relied heavily on the Energy Masters and their engagement. These En-

ergy Masters work as volunteers and have a key role in the project. Careful recruitment and/or

intensive support from project partners or cities are, essential for a successful project.

38


5. From theory to practice: Implementing the Energy Neighbourhoods

The Energy Neighbourhoods project was a European project. However, the coordinators ran local cam-

paigns, based upon the common project structure, design and with the jointly developed instruments in

each of the nine participating countries. What follows is a short report on the experiences of each national

coordinator when implementing the competition in order to give a practical impression of the ground-

work that was done, problems that arose as well as different approaches and solutions.

France

The energy neighbourhoods in France, guided by the partner Prioriterre were all different: from rural

villages to city centre neighbourhoods, from houses to apartments. Some of the participants were already

very aware of what to do and how to consume less energy and have already changed their daily behaviour

accordingly. They made little savings in

percentage, being already very good en-

ergy savers in their day to day life. It was

important to communicate that those

people are doing good since a long time

and that due to this they will have a rather

low percentage of energy saved in com-

parison to the previous year.

The Energy Masters were either one of

these very aware participants, or partici-

pants very interested in the issue and who

wanted to learn more or were willing to develop their knowledge and help others. Some of the Energy

Masters invented funny tricks on how to save energy: get invited to friends for the weekend! Or candlelit

dinners - very romantic!

In France one of the challenges was to ensure that all households are entering the right data in the online

tool: to make sure they had read the data correctly on their bills (French bills can be complicated to read),

to check their 9 months of reference, their converted data etc.

The French participants were furthermore very keen to learn how the online tool is working, there were a

lot of questions for instance on how the calculation is made by the software or how to enter data in kW/h

when you have m3 of wood. The project partner Prioriterre tried to answer every question, making regular

mail communication and giving advice sheets.

Local Award Ceremony in France

39


The local award took place in the village of Les Gets. Around 150 participants were present throughout

the day and the 23 groups were represented. The winner group was “De Lorna l’énergie positive” from

Lornay. The trip to Brussels was offered to 6 persons from the groups and a visit to an ecological park

was offered to groups that have saved 8% and more. All the participants received a selective bag.

Bulgaria (Plovdiv)

In Bulgaria the Energy Agency of Plovdiv met some initial difficulties with the motivation of the par-

ticipants in the regional campaign caused by the suspicion on recording energy data. Thus, the concept

had to be communicated in a friendly way and the neighbourhoods got energy monitoring equipment (a

kit that recorded their energy consumption every six sec-

onds - the data will be stored on the server forever). The

key to the success of the project in Bulgaria was to moti-

vate the households to participate. Finally, the bet was

taken up by five Neighbourhoods, with five families in

each. The Neighbourhoods were formed in Plovdiv,

Asenovgrad and Nova Zagora. They all took the challenge

and gave their best to save energy without sacrificing their

comfort. Guided by the highly motivated Energy Masters, all the families collected their energy bills from

the previous year. After being trained on how to work with the web-based tool, everybody started entering

their data.

Furthermore, the Energy Masters were people highly dedicated to saving energy and sharing their knowl-

edge. They guided the households and provided them with information materials and advice. The partici-

pants of the winner team in Bulgaria were teachers who had participated in a previous European project,

Active Learning. Having been motivated by the experience in Active Learning, the teachers executed the

good practices in their homes and won.

The Bulgarian National Award ceremony took place on the 2nd of October 2009 in the Meeting hall of

the Union of Scientists in Plovdiv. Families from the Energy Neighbourhoods and Energy Masters plus

other people interested in the extension of the project participated in the event – in total 35 households

were represented.

The winners – Energy Neighbourhood “Zagorka” – received vouchers for the Brussels trip and all the

others received vouchers for energy monitoring equipment.

40


Belgium (BBLV)

The Energy Neighbourhoods project is the con-

tinuation of a previous experience in Belgium,

therefore, potential participants, knowing the

potential results, subscribed their selves in order

to participate. In total, the Belgium partner, Bond

Beter LeefmilieuVlaanderen involved 140 mu-

nicipalities in the competition, reaching 4200 par-

ticipants.

The household had to be kept motivated. Most

important was the role of the Energy Master. He

was the key to a successful neighbourhood. He

had to inform the household how to save energy and helped them when they had a problem. Each

neighbourhood and Energy Master was supported by the province and their own municipality. BBLV and

his member organisations Dialoog and Ecolife provided technical help and information.

The participating people were very diverse. There was a neighbourhood with only children, attending the

energy master training as well. There were real sport-organisations, work colleagues, schools, youth or-

ganisations, and people with budget problems and of course real physical neighbourhoods.

Meetings with the energy masters were organized throughout the whole campaign period, with approxi-

mately three in each participating Province.

At these meetings, additional information about the campaign and energy saving topics were covered.

Some about the calculation-method, others about financial support of the government for energy savings

measurements, etcetera.

Halfway through the campaign, each municipality organised an interim event, where the interim results

were provided and people had a drink and could meet other neighbourhoods.

The winning neighbourhood was a group from the small town Temse, called Velle. It consisted of several

household who were all related to each other by birth or by marriage. They saved up to 37%.

Ireland (TEA)

The Irish partner, Tipperary Energy Agency has coordinated the project within four towns (Cahir,

Nenagh, Thurles and Tipperary Town) holding many Energy Master recruitment, training meetings and an

extensive radio advertising campaign. The degree of cooperation and support has been immense and three

of the town councils have even set up an energy neighbourhood within their workplace. As in other coun-

tries special training events took place for the town council officials. A total of 36 neighbourhoods and

close to 200 stakeholders have registered for the project, saving energy and our planet!

Local Award Ceremony in Belgium

41


Some 15 of their original 34 neighbourhoods finished the

competition in Ireland. Website registration, data uploading

and project completion proved difficult for the other

neighbourhoods in Ireland. However, the energy savings

made in Ireland during this campaign were substantial with

the winning neighbourhood conserving 17% of their energy

and over 8 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The project was car-

ried out in a fun way and all participants enjoyed making

painless reductions in energy use.

Over 70 people attended the awards in three towns; Cahir,

Tipperary Town and Thurles. Saint Ailbhe’s Secondary

School (Tipperary Town) won the competition and saved

the most energy. They received 500, - Euros and have had

monitoring equipment fitted to the school for future energy

saving.

Sweden (ESS)

The Swedish partner, Energiekontor Sydost has recruited 10 neighbourhoods with more than 90 house-

holds involved. To launch the bet two kick-offs took place, one in Oskarshamn and one in Karlskrona.

The science centre eXperimentLabbet participated in Karlskrona and inspired the audience by showing

energy-experiments. The Swedish participants have been invited to compete in economical car racing, and

also to several interesting meetings and events about climate change. Every second week the Swedish

participants received an electronic newsletter from the national coordinator Energy Agency for Southeast

Sweden to remind them about the bet, and to give new tips and ideas how to reduce the energy consump-

tion. In order to motivate the hood-members, they were invited to listen to a “CO2-dietist” who explained

how changes of lifestyle can reduce each family’s contribution to greenhouse gases. The hood-members

were also invited to join the “efficient-car” rally, the most

efficient driver was rewarded and the Energy Neighbour-

hood members were competing in their own class. Also a

work shop of climate smart choices for food was arranged.

The Energy Masters stated that the newsletter was the most

useful tool for them as a regular reminder and motivator.

The most successful energy neighbourhood consisted of

members that hadn’t saved energy before the competition, and therefore had a great potential to reduce

their energy consumption.

Local Award Ceremony in Ireland

42


The national prize ceremonies in Karlskrona, Oskarshamn and Kalmar were followed by a lecture about

each contribution to fight the climate change. The winning hood was Team Ahlgren, who won the trip to

Brussels and also a boat trip in the archipelago. Approximately 70 people attended the national ceremo-

nies.

Germany (BSU)

Beratungs- und Service-Gesellschaft Umwelt mbH involved three municipalities in North Rhine

Westphalia and more than 80 households in the campaign. In each city an opening event with different

highlights was organised. In Düsseldorf participants learnt more about the psychological challenges of

saving energy, in Münster the Energy Neighbours could cycle on an “energy bike” and in Wuppertal the

mayor announced his own participation in the competition.

Different activities were carried out dur-

ing the campaign. Energy Neighbour-

hoods received individual energy audits

and energy experts indentified energy

saving potential in their homes. Further-

more, the cities and Energy Masters or-

ganized different meetings of the

neighbourhoods in order to inform and

motivate the participants. An energy sav-

ing tip from the national coordinator

B.&S.U. sent to the participants every two weeks provided additional information on energy saving and

the impact on climate protection.

Three Award Ceremonies took place in Wuppertal, Münster and Düsseldorf. Each city provided prizes

and certificates for their local winning teams. As all neighbourhoods from Germany managed to save 8%

or more in six months all participants could be awarded for winning the bet with their city. The local

award ceremonies were rounded up with music, social get together and a buffet.

43


Interview with the mayor of Wuppertal Lorenz Bahr, who participated in

the project himself with his family

Anke Merziger: Why is Wuppertal participating in the project Energy Neigh-

bourhoods?

Lorenz Bahr: One of the goals of our urban development plan is climate protection. Even

though there is still a lot to do, we have already carried out many climate protection projects for the city and its citizens. The

idea of Energy Neighbourhoods is both convincing and simple, and since energy prices are also rising in Wuppertal, it is

increasingly important to economise. The question therefore is what can we as a city, and what can I personally, do to protect

the environment and at the same time reduce my energy costs.

Anke Merziger: You, together with your family, participated as a city representative for the project, of

course non-competitive. How did you personally benefit from taking part in Energy Neighbourhoods?

Lorenz Bahr: It is up to everyone to save energy. The Energy Neighbourhood project gave me the opportunity to get in-

volved myself, and as a representative of the city. At the beginning I thought of it more as something fun to do. But during the

course of the project I got more and more ambitious. By entering the energy consumption data on a weekly basis, we could

directly see the saving effects of the measures that we implemented. That was great!

Anke Merziger: Do you have any energy saving tips you would like to share?

Heating accounts for 70% per cent of private energy consumption; therefore it is easy to achieve sustainable success here, for

example by turning down the heating at night. But fridges, freezers and laundry driers are also very power hungry. It is easy

to do without a drier, but harder to live without a fridge or freezer. We, as a family, calculated that the cost of purchasing a

new appliance of the highest energy efficiency class would be written off within 3-4 years. As a result, by next year we are

going to start saving due to the new appliances that we purchased. And of course we haven’t placed the fridge next to the

cooker to avoid unnecessary energy consumption!

44


England (SWEA)

The partner Severn Wye Energy Agency has recruited 14 neighbourhoods in total. These neighbour-

hoods include over 160 participating households supported by a total of 21 trained Energy Masters. A

special training session was held for Energy Masters and Civil Servants where the Belgian partner at-

tended, and the project has been launched via several events ranging from an afternoon at an art gallery to

a meal at the local pub.

The Energy Neighbourhoods received project information on a weekly basis with tips and activities sent

out on a postcard aimed to help the neighbourhoods to lower their consumption and remind them to read

their meters. Each week had a different theme around energy efficiency. Nevertheless, towards the end of

the competition SWEA included information concerning the wider issues of climate change and reducing

their carbon footprint, such as transport and ethical shopping. To help the communities save as much

energy as possible they were given lots of gadgets and incentives. At the launch they were given an eco

kettle, low energy light bulbs and computer and TV power downs (intelligent plugs which automatically

switch appliances off standby mode). Throughout the project many other gifts were raffled off such as a

“bye bye standby” kit, wind up torches, gas savers and Christmas LED lights.

In England a variety of energy masters took up the challenge; backgrounds include a retired energy con-

sultant to an energy conscious parish clerk. All Energy Masters attended the training and were able to give

quality advice to the participants however many felt the role was a lot to ask of one volunteer. Possibly,

there should be a few people taking on different roles therefore spreading the responsibility.

The concept of reading the meters was a very simple one and worked well until conversions between units

needed to be done. It was hard for some people to read their meter as it was in a difficult place, it was

suggested that every participant was given a wireless electricity monitor for ease of meeting readings.

The monitors also have a memory function

so if verification of meter readings was

needed you will be able to look back.

Eight out of fourteen neighbourhoods

completed the competition. Lack of com-

puter knowledge, no email address and

unrealistic interim results were the main

cause of households loosing enthusiasm

and not completing.

However for the neighbourhoods that

completed the competition was enjoyable

and great savings were made with the winning neighbourhood achieving an average saving of a 17%,

which is fantastic.

45


The national ceremony was held at Randwick Village Hall, Gloucestershire. 71 people from 6 of the 8

teams that completed the bet attended. The winning team was the Wotton Energy Watch and each

household received a hamper of fair-trade products from the Stroud Member for Parliament, David

Drew.

Italy (AESS and ECUBA)

The Italian partners, Agenzia Per L’Energia e lo Svilippo Sostenible di Modena and ECUBA, after a

communication campaign, recruited 100 participants for the competition, spread throughout 9 municipali-

ties. The campaign involved also the main local energy efficiency actors. A visit to “Centro per il risparmio

energetico di Modena” was held to offer a training session to all families involved. An energy saving tool-

kit offered by the local energy utilities, was prepared for all participants.

In most cases Neighbourhoods gathered around pre existing groups. In Formigine, Nonantola, Castella-

rano and Ravarino, “collective purchasing groups” -the so-called Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (GAS) as

well as a volunteer group of environmental guards- quickly responded as neighbourhoods. These were

extremely effective channels, which guaranteed stability and enthusiasm during the 6-month competition.

The project used synergies with local actors (an interim technical meeting was held at the local “Centro

per il Risparmio Energetico”, a private HVAC systems showroom) and other projects too (a seminar was

shared with IEE EnergyTrophy+ project as both initiatives shared the common of saving energy through

behavioural measures).

The course of action has gone smoothly: most families participated in the bet with enthusiasm. The tools

were delivered and illustrated during operative meetings, some were organised on a regional scale while

others were organised at the municipal level.

The forum tool on the website has been used, though not at its best. The neighbourhoods have worked as

groups with mutual control and exchange of experiences.

There were 3 local prize events organised, one in each winning municipality. In two cases prizes were

included into other public events in order to give them a larger resonance: in all more than two hundred

people participated at the local events. The best regional performance in terms of energy saving percent-

age was scored by the “Mirandola Gruppo 2” with 22, 86%. The winning groups were awarded with use-

ful prizes such as: 150€ voucher to be spent in A+ class domestic new appliances, smart meters to moni-

tor the domestic electric consumption and a choice of books dealing with climate change.

Spain (AER and FCVRE)

The Spanish partner, Agencia Energietica de la Ribera recruited 8 different municipalities of the

Valencian Region. AER, using their contact database, spread their training experiences and results in their

46


region. As a result, 21 householders and a total of 81 participants were involved in the bet in La Ribera

County.

The AER has been working in the campaign with the collaboration of the municipality officials. They kept

weekly contact with the Energy Masters to encourage

them and to help them with the data collection. In a simi-

lar way the Energy Masters had to support and assist the

members of their neighbourhoods. However, in many

cases it has failed. In addition, AER sent energy saving

tips and other information related to energy issues on a

regular basis (such as tips for TV programmes related to

the campaign). They also set up an online service to an-

swer inquires of the participants. AER pointed out that since it is a long lasting campaign, the most diffi-

cult part was to find the right way to keep people motivated during the competition.

The National Award Ceremony took place in l’Alcúdia on 24th June 2009. Five groups of the involved

municipalities participated in the Ceremony. A total of 30 persons attended the ceremony. All hoods re-

ceived a certificate that proved their participation in the bet. The winning group was awarded also with a

device that turns off the stand-by function automatically.

The other partner from Spain, the Fundación Comunidad Valenciana – Región Europea, which is

located in Brussels, was mainly responsible for communication and dissemination within the whole

European Neighbourhoods project. They presented the project at different conferences and meetings in

Brussels and managed that important European stakeholders were informed about the project.

6. Finale

6.1 Performance Indicators

The criteria to measure the success of the project and the national coordinators of the project were drawn

from the objectives and expected results of the “Energy Neighbourhoods” project. They were mainly

related to the quality of the achieved results (external evaluation) and some to the cooperation within the

project team (internal evaluation). The performance indicators were necessary to be able to monitor the

project and to recognise early when reaching the targets seemed to be endangered. This gave the respec-

47


tive work package leaders and the coordinating partner, the BSU, the opportunity to initiate remedial

measures or to correct actions. In the following, the criteria for measuring the success of the project re-

lated to the quality of the achieved results as well as relating to the cooperation within the project team.

Quality of results achieved (external evaluation):

� Enthusiasm for the competition among potential participants (i.e. registration rates for competi-

tion)

� Enthusiasm of the participating households to save energy and to which extent they are imple-

menting energy saving measures

� Actual energy and cost savings achieved during the competition

� Improvement of communication between citizens and communities concerning energy related is-

sues and the improvement of local climate policy

� Interest in the “Energy Neighbourhoods” project on the part of the press, citizens, political

community, the environmental/energy community

Cooperation within the project (internal evaluation):

� Realising the project within the set time and budget frame

� Quality of the cooperation within the project consortium (e.g. transfer of knowledge among part-

ners, transnational benefit, establishment of professional contacts for future cooperation)

� Persistence of partners regardless of problems

� Structured flow of information (to ensure effective collaboration)

The Energy Neighbourhoods project was successful and a second European competition is planned al-

ready. The aim to raise awareness for behavioural changes and to highlight possibilities for energy saving

at home in order to bring the ‘Kyoto protocol’ closer to the people was reached. Despite of some techni-

cal problems with the website and the challenge of recruiting people for the competition, the project was

very well accepted by the participants and many requests for a second round were received by the country

coordinators from potential participants and by organisations in new European countries.

6.2 Success Stories

The following success stories have been important for the project.

Idea of Energy Savings spread widely

48


The consortium partners have managed to spread the idea and the results of the Energy Neighbourhoods

competition widely. The idea of the competition at the European level and of saving energy through sim-

ple and cost effective measures got great feedback from the media. The successful dissemination strate-

gies, including articles that could be placed in the press and online as well as presentations of the project at

different conferences and meetings, highly supported that already new potential participants continue

enquiring about the next round of the Energy Neighbourhoods. The successful dissemination strategy

furthermore ensured that households beyond the participating neighbourhoods learned that changing

behaviour for saving energy really can make a difference and that is worth rethinking your daily energy

use. The successful neighbourhoods even became local celebrities in their cities, as local newspapers and

TV-channels interviewed them or reported from their success. The Energy Neighbourhood partners suc-

ceeded to motivate households to save energy and could at the same time reach a broad public. The

Neighbourhood project was very well presented both in the media and at conferences and seminars.

Energy Neighbourhoods Stories

The little success stories of the project really made a difference: the Energy Master of the winning English

team was formerly unemployed and is now working in the energy field, his participation in the bet was a

good reference; one of the Energy Neighbourhoods Towns from Ireland won the “National Tidy Town

Award” and is now presenting their experiences across Ireland; Local Energy Providers could be won in

some countries as supporters, they paid trips for additional participants to the European Prize Award,

sponsored energy efficiency equipment or were involved as expert; the engagement of cities in the project

resulted in joining the Covenant of Mayors in Bulgaria; participants experienced that it can be actually fun

to read meters; Participants that were not invited to Brussels paid the trips themselves as there were keen

to meet the Neighbourhoods from the other countries or the closing event in Vlaams attracted around

4500 participants. All these little experiences made by the partner consortiums while running the project

has shown that the project idea really worked and succeeded to reach the important target group of

households.

Energy Neighbourhoods wins ManagEnergy Local Energy Action Award

In March 2010, the Energy Neighbourhoods project was awarded with the ManagEnergy Local Energy

Action Award. ManagEnergy is an initiative of the European Commission.

49


With the award the project was established as an example for “ManagEnergy good practice”. Moreover, it

demonstrates that the Energy Neighbourhoods project is well accepted by the European Institutions and

particularly by the European Commission. The project is an excellent model for future European projects

in the field of energy and

environment. ManagEnergy is

an initiative of the European

Commission, which aims to

support local and regional

protagonists in the field of

renewable energy and sustain-

able usage of energy. The

award demonstrates that the

Energy Neighbourhoods

project is highly recognized

on an international level, that

the European Institutions

support the project and that

the consortium partners and

the neighbourhoods per-

formed very well. The project was awarded because very good results were achieved in the area of energy

saving during the competition as well as because the idea of the project has great potential to be applied to

and continued in new projects and activities.

6.3 Conclusions

Four main and important conclusions can be drawn from the experiences made within the Energy

Neighbourhoods project:

� Every household can save energy with only little or no financial means by changing the behaviour of

the persons living in the household; using energy saving lighting and disabling stand-by. The key to

success is mainly committed participants, highly motivated Energy Masters as well as continuous

communication on the part of the consortium partners and the municipalities. The latter were the

main instruments to keep people enthused about the campaign and about energy saving in general.

� The experiences made with the web tool show that it is important to guide participants in using online

appliances. Training and continuous support has been necessary in all countries in order to ensure the

Project partners and Günther Öttinger, the EU Commissioner for Energy, during the ManagEnergy conference

50


proper and the continuous use of the online tool. Even further participants are really keen to learn

how the tool is functioning and how the calculations are made. This information needs to be provided

in order to gain the trust and to keep up the motivation of participants.

� Even though differences between the countries have been experienced (e.g. local structures, partici-

pants demand for information etc.) the project Energy Neighbourhoods has been proven to be easily

adjustable in other countries and highly transferable. Furthermore the European competition between

the participants and the European dimension of saving energy together has been an important factor

of motivation and recognition for the project both on the level of the participants and cities.

� The competition has proven to be an incentive at different levels: The European aspect of the project

motivated the participants in a special way and showed the global importance of energy saving. An

exchange of experiences between participants in several European countries ensured a huge input of

different strategies that could be applied. In addition, implementing a competition gave the opportu-

nity to realise the goal of climate protection in a fun way showed that it is possible to reach impressive

results throughout Europe. For the participants the Energy Neighbourhoods project was a good

mean to reduce their energy costs, improve their environmental performance and a way to provide

their commitment to a wider public. Moreover, the awarding of the best participants at the national

and international level showed the participants that their work was recognized and rewarded and

guaranteed that the successful stories were communicated to a broader public.

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8. Partner Consortium

Following organisations have implemented the Energy Neighbourhoods competition:

s year.

B.&S.U. mbH (DE)

Contact:

Anke Merziger

[email protected]

BBLV (BE)

Contact:

Mike Desmet

[email protected]

Ecuba (IT)

Contact:

Federico Fileni

[email protected]

Prioriterre (FR)

Contact:

Anne-Sophie Masure

[email protected]

SWEA (UK)

Contact:

Karen Robinson

[email protected]

TEA (IE)

Contact:

Vincent Carragher

[email protected]

FCVRE (ES)

Contact:

Laura Bas

[email protected]

ESS (SE)

Contact:

Lena Eckerberg

[email protected]

AER (ES)

Contact:

Pilar Pérez Casan

[email protected]

EAP (BG)

Contact:

Bogdana Bogdanova

cgpf-

[email protected]

AESS (IT)

Contact:

Gianluca Avella

[email protected]

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