Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Save at Work (save@work - The Energy Saving Contest for Public Authorities)

Teaser

save@work focuses on overcoming the barriers to energy saving practices in public office buildings and changing the behavior of public sector employees in the work place. 176 public office buildings, with 17280 employees, from nine countries compete in a year-long energy...

Summary

save@work focuses on overcoming the barriers to energy saving practices in public office buildings and changing the behavior of public sector employees in the work place. 176 public office buildings, with 17280 employees, from nine countries compete in a year-long energy saving contest to achieve the high-est energy savings possible compared to previous years. Throughout the competition period, participants benefit from expert knowledge provided by the partner organisations; a web-based online Energy Saving Tool which serving as a feedback mechanism, helps participating buildings to visualize their actual energy consumption and savings; tailor made information and campaign materials and the exchange of experience with other participants.
The energy saving competition between public office buildings is embedded in an energy quality management cycle: Analysis – Development of Measures – Implementation – Monitoring and Continuation, which ensures an individual and sustainable approach for realizing energy savings.
Evaluation of the implemented measures and results will help provide important insights useful for both project implementation as well as future initiatives in this field. Factors of success, barriers and the impact of the project in respect to mid- and long-term changes will be analyzed.
Project activities and results will be disseminated through a wide communication campaign to the public, as well as other stakeholders in public administrations and academic institutions.

The potential for energy savings through behavior change in public office buildings has hardly been addressed systematically in the past. Possible players (public administrations, building/energy manager) do not often feel any responsibility for promotion energy savings and effectiveness of motivating employees, as well as developing a strategic approach for improving the energy use of equipment and building sys-tems is not sufficiently know in public authorities.

save@work has the following objectives:
- Measurable CO2 and energy savings: The project goal is to achieve energy savings of 13 GWh primary energy and 3.100 t CO2 emissions avoided
- Improving energy literacy of public sectors employees and motivating an energy efficient be-haviour for improving the energy performance of approximately 180 office buildings
- Empower at least 16 public authorities to fulfil their function as a role model regarding energy efficiency and inspire other organizations to follow their lead
- Provide valuable input to improve the effectiveness of initiatives that focus on changing behav-iour in the work place
- Stimulation of energy efficient behaviour within the home

Work performed

- Active Engagement of 72 public authorities involved as partners in the project
- 176 buildings with 17280 public sector employees participating in the project
- 809 Energy Team Members involved and trained
- Set up of one energy monitor online tool for calculating and visualizing the energy use and sav-ings of each building, available in 9 languages
- Implementation of Green Clicks, an online tool to change energy behaviour of employees in of-fices including the following phases: (1) Awareness raising and identification of the potential to improve the energy behaviour, (2) Individual information on energy saving measures in the activity areas of the employees and (3) Evaluation of the adopted behaviour and feedback to the em-ployees; available in 9 languages.
- Training on the tools
- Development of promotional and educational material: handbooks, Energy saving tips, starter kits, poster, flyer
- Workshops with energy teams and energy checks for each building. Based upon these, development of action plans for each building
- Pre-survey among participating employees (response rate 17.1%) to analyse the success and im-pact of the project for methodology
- Media Dissemination activities

Final results

The direct involvement of public authorities in this project leads to raised awareness and increased capacity building amongst the decision makers at local and regional level. Each participating building is surveyed and information on the results of the energy analysis of each building is provided. Based on this and the activities during the competition year, each authority will compile a strategy paper on how to continue and advance the activities in the participating buildings and how experiences and expertise gained will be passed on to other public buildings.

One major focus of the project lies in capacity and skill building of public sector employees. By using different channels of communication all employees (17280) working in the building will be reached and involved in the action. The energy teams active in each building form the core group; they received training and a set of materials on energy efficiency and behaviour change measures as well as infor-mation and guidance on communication and motivation strategies. For 809 energy team members a level of increased capacity and skills will be reached using a peer-to-peer communication approach, the energy teams pass on their knowledge (via energy saving tips, online tool Green Clicks, workshops, events, quizzes, direct contact etc.) to fellow colleagues in their buildings.

As the competition period progresses and the project evolves, it will have an impact on 17280 people and will lead to more informed and conscious energy efficiency behaviour and investment at work as well as at home

Website & more info

More info: http://www.saveatwork.eu.