Co-operative concept for providing energy efficiency services – pilot field study

Panel: 8. Dynamics of consumption

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Author:
Virve Rouhiainen, Adato Energia Oy, Finland

Abstract

This paper presents the first experiences from a pilot study in which a co-operative concept for providing energy efficiency services for households is tested in the field. The concept consists of a toolkit (which is used to identify and plan the needed actions in households) and the creation of a network (which will provide the commercial services). In addition, a network providing support for problem-solving is created.

The partners in the concept are a local utility, a local energy efficiency office and a national information and tool provider. The original idea was to educate a group of volunteers (10-15) to make an energy-saving plan for a group of individual households (75-100) using printed material and a web tool. Despite an extensive recruitment effort only 21 people volunteered. They turned out to have low electricity consumption in comparison with their reference households. In response to this, the project focus was shifted on finding ways to help the participants to tell others on their practises. From other studies we know that the majority knows very little of energy consumption and we expect that peers are more likely to be successful in this kind of communication.

The project has two aims. The first is gathering feedback of how useful the existing materials and tools are in practice. The second is to find out how well peer groups function in practice, what kind of problems will occur and whether these can be tackled with the planned network. If the concept is viable it can easily be extended and adapted to varying circumstances in other parts of the country.