1. Engaging building users in energy
reduction: the challenge of behaviour
change
Dr Richard Bull
Institute of Energy & Sustainable
Development
2. DE MONFORT UNIVERSITY
World-class university situated in Leicester, with more than 18,000 students and
3,000 staff, five faculties offering around 400 courses and an annual turnover in
the region: £132.5 million
INSTITUTE OF ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Leading research institute conducting innovative and groundbreaking research
into renewable energy, sustainable development and public engagement. Also
run 3 MSc courses.
3. THREE CHALLENGES
① The visibility of energy
② Whose behaviour are we trying to
change?
③ The challenge of public engagement in
the workplace
5. By its nature, ‘energy’ is an
abstract and invisible force
that is conceptualised or
commonly defined in a number
of different ways, for example
as a commodity, as a social
necessity, as an ecological
resource, or as a strategic
material.*
*Burgess & Nye (2008), Re -materialising energy use
through transparent monitoring systems, Energy
Policy
8. CYBER DISPLAY
• Energy Cities represents more than 1000 local authorities
from 30 countries, mainly municipalities
• The Display Campaign is a voluntary scheme
municipalities can adopt to demonstrate a commitment to
reducing energy consumption of public buildings.
• A key part of the rationale for developing the energy
display label was to motivate decision makers towards a
common approach for European certification for energy
performance of non-residential buildings, and engage
municipal energy managers and the general public
around the subject of energy and buildings.
• As a project partner, DMU was responsible for evaluating
the success of the campaign
9. DISPLAY COMMUNICATION
ACTIVITIES
• Education/Training programmes
• Communication Activities
• Internal Communication
• Local Energy CYBER Display Days
• Schools Programme
• Local Press Articles and Media Relations;
• Local Communication Materials
• Staff Training Workshops
10. IMPROVING BUILDING PERFORMANCE
The overall trend is of this set of buildings
moving ‘Towards Class A.’ By this we mean there
is, overall, a increase in higher rating certificates
(A C) and a decrease in ratings G-D.
11. FINDINGS FROM DISPLAY®
• Display® lead to demonstrable increases in building performance and
energy awareness. But . . .
• There is no one single measure or ‘quick-fix’ for moving buildings ‘Towards
Class A’.
• The importance and success of Display® is in recognizing that the poster is
merely a beginning of the journey ‘Towards Class A’.
Buildings in Display® that improve . . .
1. Invest in multiple refurbishments especially lighting controls and boiler replacement
and avoid using air conditioning;
2. Invest in new types of building controls especially heating controls;
3. Have a full time energy manager and voluntary environmental champion;
4. Organized local media campaigns and used creative promotional materials;
5. Attended local and national networking events such as 'national users club event'
12. Technical Energy
improvements awareness
A technical improvement is
the result of someone’s
behaviour being changed,
be it the facilities manager,
finance director, energy
manager or mayor.
Behaviour Building
change improvements
13. ③ The challenge of public engagement
in the workplace
the aim? To understand the role
of ICT in reducing energy
consumption of a large scale
public building through the
design of an ICT interface
connecting building users to
their electricity consumption.
14. BEYOND INFORMATION PROVISION
•There is a need for a different approach recognising the
complexity of user perceptions and understandings
(Niemeyer, Petts et al. 2005);
•Combining a bottom-up and top-down approach in
order to minimise mixed messages (Owens 2000);
• The value of public engagement (Burgess and Clark
2009; Ockwell, Whitmarsh et al. 2009).
•The importance of context.
15.
16.
17. CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS
• Complex issues exist around behaviour change in the
workplace, not least – where does responsibility lie for energy
reduction& whose behaviour are we trying to change.
• There is a need for more creative and less ‘quantitative’
visualisation tools
• Significant energy reductions can be made through simple
measures (consumption in unoccupied hours is a substantial
problem)
• Public engagement in the workplace must be ‘fit for purpose’
18. Thank you for listening.
Dr Richard Bull
rbull@dmu.ac.uk
greenview.dmu.ac.uk
Twitter: richbull or greenviewdmu
Editor's Notes
Findings from three research projects (well 2,!)
People don’t use energy, they see lighting, heating and the services ‘it’ provides.
Visualising energy is exactly what these certificates attempt to – both on white goods and buildingsBut is there a difference in audience?
Whose behaviour are you trying to change?CitizensCouncillorsOfficersBusiness peopleChildrenBuilders
Education/Training programmes - with building managers and administrators;Communication Activities - for at least three general events per year;Internal Communication – use of newsletters, intranet, CYBER Display ambassadors for the buildings, etc.;Local Energy CYBER Display Days - Organising a specific Local Energy CYBER Display Day per year – different activities, high media exposure;Schools Programme - detailed programme for education of teachers and learners;Local Press Articles and Media Relations;Local Communication Materials - Conception/production of local communication materials e.g. flyers, leaflets, banners, posters, stickers, etc.;Staff Training Workshops - Conception/production of local communication materials e.g. flyers, leaflets, banners, posters, stickers, etc.LINK BACK TO THEORY – engagement – participation - complexity
Central to our analysis is whether or not buildings have improved their performance as a result of their involvement in the DISPLAY campaign. The hope of the campaign has always been that as a result of displaying the Display certificate, and through undertaking communication with building users, that building performance improves and energy consumption decreases. Figure 4 shows the results of our analysis of European municipal buildings over the last eight years using a simple formula. Ratings on the certificate have been given a numerical value so it is possible to subtract the earliest and latest certificate rating available to gain a meaningful picture of a buildings performance over time. If the earliest certificate is of higher rating e.g. “A” (numeric value 7) in year 2001 and latest rating is in year 2008 and is “E” (numeric value 3). The movement in rating calculated will be -4 (latest-earliest) and if the case is vice versa it will be +4.
Detailed building surveys 751 buildings are selected from 5586 buildings 383 responsesFinal ‘cleaned’ data: 286Pre & post communication surveys:
Mention bens work
Central to the notion of publicly displaying a building’s energy performance though is the idea that the provision of information will change the behaviour of those managing and using the building. Hence the proviso that the building is rated and displayed in a poster format that can be displayed in a public part of the building so it is visible, for example the entrance hall. Yet within the public engagement literature it is widely accepted that mere information-provision is inadequate for behaviour change (Blake 1999), and yet ‘top-down’ communication campaigns both predominate (for example the UK government’s ‘Act on CO2' campaign) and are advised by those involved in ‘social marketing (Collins, Thomas et al. 2003).’ However, this rarely manifests itself through measurable behaviour change (Lorenzoni, Nicholson-Cole et al. 2007). As a result, academics have identified the need for a different approach recognising the complexity of user perceptions and understandings (Niemeyer, Petts et al. 2005); the importance of combining a bottom-up and top-down approach in order to minimise mixed messages (Owens 2000); and the value of public engagement (Burgess and Clark 2009; Ockwell, Whitmarsh et al. 2009). It is these three perspectives – recognizing complexity of user-perceptions; a bottom up/top down approach (often manifested through partnership working) and public engagement, that to which we shall return when we consider the role of the municipalities. Of course whilst the EPBD may just require a DEC in an entrance hall, DISPLAY Campaign is different – issue of audience again.
Procurement issues, efficiency of machines, People paid to work etc . . . .
