Smart Energy Community

Closed

Background: Estonia and Latvia have set the ambitious targets for the energy and climate policy. Most of the energy is consumed by households in buildings that are constructed more than 30-40 years ago, are poorly insulated and have an energy performance label of E or F. Also, new facilities require different skills to change consumption patterns. We can reduce carbon emissions by informing people about what other people living in similar households – across borders, across neighbourhoods – are doing to save their energy and manage to reduce their emissions. Behaviourally based changes that reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions have major advantages. First, the benefits of raising public awareness and breaking demand-side lock-ins can be very fast, unlike major supply-side infrastructure changes that can take years. Second, they can be highly cost-effective. Third, they can provide substantial savings and other benefits directly to citizens, in particular in peripheral regions. Knowledge gaps to exploit both high tech and low-tech as well social innovation is concerned by local empowerment and local circumstances. The SEC project encourages the uptake of energy efficiency schemes by thinking about how people either as individuals or communities respond to the proposed solutions and incentives. Choosing schools and students for campaigning helps to carry the environmental messages and energy transition quicker. Cross-border nature The energy markets and systems of Estonia and Latvia are getting more interconnected and more similar in terms of technologies deployed and usage modes, though, Southern Estonia and Northern Latvia have different energy mixes (still higher fossil energy share and carbon footprint in Estonia). The energy efficient technologies tend to be restricted on mainstream nation-wide schemes, imported from western or northern Europe. Partners can learn from each other and to benefit from enriching and diversifying current energy consumption schemes considering behaviour modes and applying neighbourhood effect. By balanced public and private interest cross-border cooperation will help to find solutions to energy efficiency challenges. Jointly programmed and implemented campaigns can deliver multinational character and authority as well attracting much wider interest. Importantly, the project will promote cooperation and educational exchange on the lowest grassroots level, including the exchange of students and active community members who all practice energy consumption routines. Objectives The mission of SEC project is: we can make it easier for people to use energy more efficiently. The SEC project sets the school and community campaign including multiple promotion activities as well a range of experimental, educational and real-life trials to test different ways of applying behavioural insights to overcome barriers to being more energy efficient. The objectives of the smart energy community project are threefold: 1) increasing the awareness of the daily use of energy and improving energy saving in Estonian and Latvian households and communities; 2) increasing energy awareness at schools and introducing interactive learning-by-doing teaching methods in order to impact the energy consciousness of future generations; 3) promoting innovative and smart solutions and best practices for energy efficiency, using demo-units, support and ICT devices and instruments. The main target groups at the school campaigning such as school children and students, teachers, school management can be reached instantly via local authorities. The general public and households, local neighbourhood and village communities in the community campaign can be reached via affiliate non-governmental organisations, society groups, town and village activists. Main activities The pillars of the SEC project are elaborating and implementing the school campaign and the community campaign. The school campaigning involve complex of surveying, auditing and experimenting with the energy consumption patterns on school premises as well at homes setting up and using test kits devices in the Rõuge, Aluksne, Valmiera and Lizums pilot schools and integrating energy lessons and tests to the school curricula. Energy management units (lighting controls and sensors, etc) installed to improve energy efficiency at pilot schools will be integrated to the learning process. The school campaign involves student workshops and after-school activities, setting energy days, exchange study tours and other in-house campaigns at schools and among students. The school management and teachers are trained for the energy efficiency and energy class programme. The second campaign ‘Smart energy community’ will focus on energy savings regarding end-use energy efficiency at home on household level. The campaign will combine the informative and relevant components of households’ personalised behaviour of energy usage. The set of communication activities, including real, virtual, hands-on and practical, event-based such as trainings and written instructions how to save energy will be distributed through multiple communication channels. Integrity of metering, monitoring, auditing of energy consumption and acting using simple but smart home technologies (control devices, wifi sockets etc) obtained by the project and deployed in the real life condition supports changing energy consumption behaviour. The main outputs of the SEC project are as follows: 2 bilateral energy days at schools, 8 training sessions at schools and communities, 4 exchange study tours, 4 energy management demo-units including test kit for the energy class at schools and 2 energy management demo units for households, energy class workbook, leaflets and manuals for the public.

Medium