How to promote energy-efficient behavior among EU citizens
Behavior changes never come easy. The intention to change habits often meets a range of barriers. When it comes to adopting energy-efficient behavior, the European research project InBETWEEN seeks to overcome barriers and encourage EU citizens to reduce their energy consumption through competition.
Seven partners have teamed up in the H2020 project inBETWEEN, aiming to provide an ICT solution that increases energy efficiency through changes in user behavior and lifestyle. To overcome the barriers experienced by EU citizens towards adopting energy-efficient behavior, the project takes a certain approach, and various features have been included in the InBetween solution.
Behavior changes through competition
The approach taken towards increasing energy efficiency among the users of the InBETWEEN platform is to create a competitive environment. The approach is founded in social theory and argues that people tend to follow the example of other people.
To facilitate the competitive environment, several features have been included in the inBETWEEN mobile app, which is available for the pilot participants. One of these is comparable rankings that take into account 3 main energy analytics:
Current consumption
Occupancy
Weather conditions
The final ranking of the users is the result of a combination of two factors:
The individual score compared with the scores of other InBETWEEN mobile app users.
The individual score compared to the past scores of the user with the intention to reward positive changes in the energy behavior and penalize negative behavior.
Monitoring platform provided by Develco Products
To measure the current consumption of the users, Develco Products’ Smart Cable, EMI, and Smart Plug Mini 2 have been installed at the project’s pilot sites in France and Austria. The occupancy is monitored by the Motion Sensor and Entry Sensor, also provided by Develco Products. To collect the data from the sensors, the pilot sites have been equipped with the Squid.link Gateway.
Besides Develco Products as a technology supplier, the inBETWEEN consortium includes system integrators, public research and concept developers, as well as social sciences and humanities experts. Citizen representatives from the pilot sites are also part of the project.
