The document discusses three challenges to engaging building users in energy reduction through behavior change: 1) The invisibility of energy, 2) Determining which users' behaviors to target, and 3) The difficulty of public engagement in workplace settings. It notes that technical improvements alone are not enough and that behavior change is needed from various stakeholders, including facilities managers and energy managers. The document advocates using creative visualization tools and a combined top-down and bottom-up approach to public engagement to help minimize mixed messages and maximize energy reductions.

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

4. ①The visibility of energy

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

7. (2)Whose
behaviour are
we trying to
c h a n g e ?

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.

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