Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TRIBE (TRaIning Behaviours towards Energy efficiency: Play it!)

Teaser

The European Commission has stated that public buildings should lead the way to improve energy efficiency of buildings, reducing total EU final energy use. However, public building users generally do not have a personal financial incentive to act in an energy efficient manner...

Summary

The European Commission has stated that public buildings should lead the way to improve energy efficiency of buildings, reducing total EU final energy use. However, public building users generally do not have a personal financial incentive to act in an energy efficient manner, since they are not directly involved in the payment of the energy bills. Neither they do have any feedback about the consequences of their behaviour in the energy consumption nor do they have an economic motivation to change it. Barriers to the creation of a general conscience towards energy efficiency improvement do not refer to immature technical solutions, but consists in overcoming non-technical barriers as well as taking advantage of existing solutions, integrating them properly.
The abovementioned challenges stand as the main motivation behind TRIBE project. In this context, the overall objective of the TRIBE project is to contribute to a citizens’ behaviour change towards energy efficiency in public buildings, through their engagement in the experience of playing a social game, linked by ICT to real data collected from five pilot buildings hosting around 1,300 regular users and almost 12,000 eventual users. The scientific objectives are listed:
• To develop a taxonomy of the public building users’ behaviour profiles towards energy efficiency.
• To collect real comparable and reliable data about the energy performance of five pilot buildings and their users’ behaviour, aiming to complement the currently existing monitoring systems with minimum investments.
• To identify and evaluate a set of 250 energy efficiency actions adoptable by public building users and managers which maximize the total energy savings impact.
• To model and simulate the effects of the set of energy efficiency actions on the buildings and on the users’ individual and group behaviour.
• To assess the evolution of the players’ behaviour towards energy efficiency at individual, building, city and EU level.
• To create and develop an EU wide virtual community for exchanging knowledge and positive attitudes towards energy efficiency.
Finally, the “TRIBE pack” will be delivered based on TRIBE experience, which includes: an initial energy audit and diagnosis, the development of a virtual pilot based on the real building, an adapted ICT deployment plan, a funding scheme and a user engagement campaign.

Work performed

TRIBE started at March 2015 and will finish next February 2018. The first period addressed by this report covers until August 2016. During these first 18 months, the consortium aimed to achieve the scientific results setting the basis for the development of the two main outcomes of the project: TRIBE game and pack.
A wide range of experts from different fields worked together to obtain high-quality and ad-hoc outcomes to feed both tools. To this end, it was necessary to set up different working teams according to the various expertise represented in the consortium. In a second stage, the following work packages were launched:
WP3 - User behavior change characterization: Through a deep literature review, qualitative interviews (24) and standardized surveys (711) and final assessment via cluster analysis, the following results have been developed: 1) User profiles with their respective differences in socio-demographic factors, norms and attitudes;2) Three different user types in terms of energy efficient behaviour; 3) Influences of different behaviour factors to change user types.

WP4 – Measures and actions for energy efficiency: A set of 250 Energy Efficiency measures to be applied by the public buildings users, owners and operators to achieve energy savings were identified, and their impact on the pilot buildings evaluated, including: energy savings achieved, total investment cost, cost savings, CO2 emissions savings, the non-renewable primary energy savings and effect on the comfort levels.

WP5 – ICT deployment for monitoring and control: A methodology for the deployment of an effective ICT monitoring system for assessment of energy consumption and user behaviour in European public buildings has been developed, based on the TRIBE experience. The monitoring plans have been already installed and validated at the TRIBE pilots.

WP6 – Simulation engine development: A simulation engine was developed, able to ensure the reliability of the energy calculations within the game. It provides a true image to the players of the impacts associated to the identified EE actions. A hybrid solution was implemented, where data from the simulations performed in specialized energy simulation engines are integrated with simulations in real time on the game platform, providing a direct feedback on the players’ actions.

WP7 – Game development: The game development started at month 13, where design considerations stemming from the scientific WPs were identified (WP2 to WP6). This functioned as a guide during content production which was executed using an iterative approach. Key aspects such as vision (including gameplay mechanics, content), system design and the implementation of the virtual pilots have started.

WP9 – Promotion, dissemination and exploitation: The communication and awareness plan, the marketing strategies and social networks management have been set. In this sense, the first actions according to the plans have been carried out.

Final results

The progress beyond the state of the art of TRIBE lies primarily within a better understanding of how different factors, that are relevant for energy efficient behavior, correspond with certain measures that are available to people within the pilots.During TRIBE project a survey was implemented within the pilots´ users to operationalize the most important factors for behavior change. Based on these results, three distinct user groups were identified via hierarchical cluster analysis and linked to specific energy saving measures. Each of these measures requires different “amount” of the factors to be performed on a regular basis. By linking these amounts to the different user profiles within the pilot buildings, a better understanding of the necessary “costs” for these measures can be gained.
Regarding the energy efficiency measures, 250 potential measures applicable to the different pilot buildings were identified. Afterwards, different methodologies were developed both:
• To assess the impacts of these measures in the different pilots.
• To gather all information required to model the pilot buildings through energy simulation.
As a result, a database containing the potential energy savings, and associated CO2 savings thanks to the application of the different measures and actions in the project pilots was created.
In parallel, a common methodology has been established for the design of a cost-effective ICT solution for each of the pilot buildings, which is replicable at EU level, assessing energy consumption and energy-related user behaviour in European public buildings.
The expected potential impact of the TRIBE game will lay first in the behavior changing effects it will have upon the players and second in the attitude shift within the wider population. It is to point out:
• Game mechanics of TRIBE are enriched with results from social-psychology-research regarding behavior change.
• By using the real environment of the pilots for in-game representation, players will be directly able to experience the effects upon energy consumptions that their everyday actions have.

Website & more info

More info: http://tribe-h2020.eu/.