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Energy-consumption feedback cut electricity use by up to 27% in low-income Mediterranean households
September 30, 2016
Energy-consumption feedback cut electricity use by up to 27% in low-income Mediterranean households
Electricity consumption fell by 22–27% in low-income households participating in an energy-efficiency programme in Cyprus, France, Malta and Spain, reports a new study. Participants were provided with a range of tools and information to help them curb their energy use, including smart meters and customised reports. The results confirm the value of tailoring information to
specific demographic groups.
Households and buildings are responsible for over 40% of energy use in the EU. Technical solutions to energy efficiency are important, but householders’ behaviour can be just as important, if not more so, previous research has suggested. A ‘one-size-fits-all’ energy-efficiency awareness campaign designed to change behaviour is unlikely to work equally well across all of society, however, and campaigns targeted at certain groups are likely to trigger higher savings.
This study, conducted under the EU-funded ELIH-Med project, considered how to encourage
energy efficiency in low-income households in the Mediterranean area. Although poorer groups tend to consume less energy than more affluent groups, the researchers say poorer groups have to be specially targeted, due to their social constraints, and they are considered hard to reach through traditional public policies.
A total of 125 low-income households were given technologies (in-house display screens or smart meters) which monitored and provided feedback on energy usage. Of the 125 households, 60 were in Spain, 25 in France, 25 in Cyprus and 15 in Malta. They were also given informative bills and customised reports, which gave personalised advice on how to save energy, as well as information on how much energy they had used, its costs and associated CO2 emissions.
Read more at "Science for Environment Policy": European Commission DG Environment News Alert Service, edited by SCU, The University of the West of England, Bristol.
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