Teesside University has approached CEE to find community energy organisations who would be interested in taking part in a funded Horizon 2020 research project. if you are interested in taking part in this research programme or for more information, please contact Paul van Schaik, Professor of Psychology and National Teaching Fellow at Teesside University.
Aim
The aim of the UK living lab is to promote engagement with and participation in the energy transition by raising citizens’ awareness of and changing behaviour related to
- their electricity use over time (time of day and week),
- their choice and use of electricity mix (solar, wind, battery or non-renewable) and
- the environmental impact of their electricity use in terms of CO2 emissions.
Eligibility
Households will be eligible to take part who have an energy supply of non-renewables and renewables, have a smart meter installed and have a mobile phone or tablet. A domestic-energy app will be developed or an existing app will be adapted that will use the smart meter data.
Activities
Households will take part in the following activities.
Basic ‘awareness training’: basic ‘awareness training’ will be provided in terms of electricity use (e.g. MW, MWh, g/kWh) and environmental impact of energy use (e.g. gCO2/kWh).
App training: training in the use of the app will also be provided to ensure participating households have the required skills to use the app, with online help available as a follow-up.
App use: a domestic energy app will be designed to provide the following features to promote electricity use at times when there is more capacity (and lower price) and use of non-renewable energy sources:
- feedback – the app will show the household’s (a) energy use over time by energy mix and (b) the environmental impact of their electricity use;
- goal-setting and commitments – the app will allow the household to set goals and make private and/or public commitments regarding (a) energy use over time by energy mix and (b) the environmental impact of their electricity use, and compare their actual use and their actual impact with their goals.
The app will be implemented as an intervention and tested with households over several months. After testing the app may be improved, implemented again and tested again. This way the intervention will be continually improved.
Data collection
Available existing data that have previously been collected by the energy communities and that are relevant to the project (e.g. historic electricity use data) will be analysed as baseline data in comparison with data after introduction of the app.
Smart meter electricity use data will be collected before and after introduction of the app.
Online questionnaires will be administered at the start and at the end of the intervention to collect data regarding households’ response to and experience of the intervention.
Interviews will be conducted at the start and at the end of the intervention(s) to collect data regarding households’ response to and experience of the intervention(s).
Social media discussions about the interventions will be captured and analysed.