The new EU Energy Union strategy, adopted in 2015, puts consumers at its core with a vision of an Energy Union “where citizens take ownership of the energy transition, benefit from new technologies to reduce their bills, participate actively in the market.” In this context, the need for a variety of engagement actions was emphasised by the EU to achieve behavioural change towards more sustainable energy choices. However, many citizens know very little about the energy consumption of their household appliances and what behavioural changes could reduce this consumption. Against this background, the DOMINO project aimed at nudging more than 3,400 households from the cities of Brussels, Berlin and Naples towards more energy efficient behaviour. Households were engaged through a “DOMINO smart plug Challenge” in which they formed teams who used smart plugs and a dedicated app to learn about the electricity consumption of their appliances. They also received recommendations for behavioural changes to save energy. Other objectives of the projects were to connect the participating households with each other to nurture peer-learning and strengthen social bonds.
The main conclusions from the DOMINO project are the following: very environmentally minded people tend to be sceptical that electronic equipment such as smart plugs are useful vehicles for reducing environmental impacts of individuals; data protection issues are a strong barrier for adopting smart home technologies in households, especially among environmentally minded individuals; people were most open to test the smart plugs when they learned that it was for research purposes; social media was not an effective channel for recruiting participants for the DOMINO challenge, external events where direct personal communication was possible worked best for recruitment – especially at events that had a focus on science or technology issues; smart home equipment (app, smart plugs) needs to be as user-friendly as possible, otherwise users will quickly lose interest; still, users always need a helpdesk with whom they can discuss their questions.
