save@work - The Energy Saving Contest for Public Authorities

Project Information

Save at Work

Grant agreement ID: 649660

DOI

10.3030/649660

Project closed

EC signature date 30 January 2015

Start date 1 February 2015

End date 30 September 2017

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 1 408 990,00

EU contribution

€ 1 408 990,00

Coordinated by

B. & S.U. BERATUNGS- UND SERVICE- GESELLSCHAFT UMWELT MBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Save at Work (save@work - The Energy Saving Contest for Public Authorities)

Reporting period: 2016-08-01 to 2017-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

save@work focused on overcoming the barriers to energy saving practices in public office buildings and changing the behaviour of public sector employees in the work place. 176 public office buildings, with 17280 employees, from nine countries competed in a year-long energy saving contest to achieve the highest energy savings possible compared to previous years by making changes to their everyday ener-gy-consuming behaviours. Throughout the competition period, participants benefited from:
• expert knowledge provided by the partner organisations;
• a web-based energy monitor which served as a feedback mechanism, to help participating buildings to visualize their actual energy consumption and savings being made;
• tailor made information and campaign materials;
• the exchange of experience with other participants.
The energy saving competition between public office buildings was embedded in an energy quality management cycle: Analysis – Development of Measures – Implementation – Monitoring and Continuation, which ensured an individual and sustainable approach for realizing energy savings. The evaluation of the implemented measures, results and participant surveys provided important insights for future initiatives in this field. Factors of success, barriers and the impact of the project with respect to mid- and long-term changes were analysed and project activities and results were disseminated through a wide communication campaign to the public, as well as other stakeholders in public administrations and academic institutions.
The potential for energy savings through behaviour change in public office buildings has been addressed systematically. Relevant stakeholders (public administrations, building/energy manager) have taken on the lead for promoting energy savings in the office. The effectiveness of motivating employees, as well as developing a strategic approach for improving the energy use of equipment and building systems has been proven by the project.
save@work achieved energy savings, improved energy literacy of public sector employees, empowered public authorities to fulfil their function as a role model regarding energy efficiency and inspired other organizations to follow their lead.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

- Active Engagement of 72 public authorities involved as partners in the project
- 176 buildings with 17280 public sector employees participating in the project
- 809 Energy Team Members trained
- development of an online calculation tool for visualizing the energy use and savings of each building, available in 9 languages
- Implementation of Green Clicks, an online tool to engage with employees to help change their energy behaviours at their workstation – it included (1) Awareness raising and identification of the potential to improve the energy behaviour, (2) Individual information on energy saving measures in the activity areas of the employees and (3) Evaluation of the adopted behaviour and feedback to the employees; available in 9 languages.
- Training on the tools
- Energy Data evaluation
- Development of promotional and educational material: handbooks, Energy saving tips, starter kits, poster, flyer
- Workshops with energy teams and energy checks for each building. Based upon these, development of action plans for each building
- Final national events and Final European Event for awarding participants in 3 categories (high-est energy savings, best campaign and best action plans)
- Pre-survey and post-survey among participating employees (response rate 17.2% and 11.9%) to analyse the success and impact of the project for methodology
- Media Dissemination activities


MAIN RESULTS
• Saving Results: compared to their previous consumption (using the previous 3 years as a base-line) the project participants saved in average 5,8% energy , in total 6.5 Million kWh, 1783 t CO2 and 416.575 €.
• Improved energy literacy: 133 initial workshops were held at the beginning of the campaign, providing training to 165 energy teams. In total, more than 800 persons were trained with the workshops. 17280 employees were reached by the project activities. They received constant in-formation on energy saving (energy saving tips, green clicks tool, specialist lectures, etc). In addition, as revealed by the post-campaign survey where 82% of the respondents claimed that they were inspired by save@work to engage in further activities, for example, start energy saving activities at home or invest in energy efficiency in their homes or talk about energy saving to their family or friends. The impact of this project, therefore, reaches beyond just the campaign participants, as important spill-over effects for energy saving activities at home took place.
• 145 action plans were compiled for the participating buildings identifying energy saving measures and activities to motivate and inform colleagues on energy savings.
• 8 Strategy Papers for each country on future activities after the project lifetime in each participating municipality/region have been compiled in cooperation with the public authorities.
• A concept for engaging public sector employees that proofed to be successful and can be re-applied in the future. The strategy as well as the campaign material can be re-applied by further public and private organisations.
• Based on a comprehensive evaluation that was run among the participating employees and the coordinating partners an evaluation report that includes valuable input for future projects in the field of energy awareness raising campaigns

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

• The direct involvement of public authorities in this project leads to raised awareness and in-creased capacity building amongst the decision makers at local and regional level. Each par-ticipating building was surveyed and information on the results of the energy analysis of each building were provided. Based on this and the activities during the competition year, each au-thority compiled a strategy paper on how to continue and advance the activities in the partic-ipating buildings and how experiences and expertise gained will be passed on to other public buildings.
• One major focus of the project was capacity and skill building of public sector employees. By using different channels of communication all employees (17280) working in the building were reached and involved in the action. The energy teams active in each building formed the core group; they received training and a set of materials on energy efficiency and behaviour change measures as well as information and guidance on communication and motivation strategies. For 809 energy team members a level of increased capacity and skills was reached using a peer-to-peer communication approach, the energy teams pass on their knowledge (via energy saving tips, online tool Green Clicks, workshops, events, quizzes, direct contact etc.) to fellow colleagues in their buildings.
• save@work had an impact on 17280 people and led to more informed and conscious energy efficiency behaviour and investment at work as well as at home. Important spill over effects are documented in the evaluation report. 82% were inspired by save@work to engage in activities that were not strictly part of the projects, for example, start energy saving activities or invest in energy efficiency in their homes or to talk about energy saving to their family and friends.

Hungarian Energy Team at Workshop

Austrian Energy Team

Swedish Energy Team

Belgium participants at Starting Event

Starting Event Latvia

Starter Kit Box for Energy Teams Germany