Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SUPER-HEERO (SUPERmarket Human based innovative financing schemes for Energy Efficiency Retrofitting and Optimisation)
Berichtszeitraum: 2020-06-01 bis 2021-11-30
Super Heero's primary objective is to develop and engineer an innovative scheme for energy efficiency investment in small/medium supermarkets based on stakeholder and community engagement and subsequently a set of secondary objectives that construct an ecosystem of implementation stakeholders and technology providers supported by a capacity building program to implement the innovative financial scheme on a broad scale. To do this, Super Heero combines aspects of energy performance contracting (EPC), technology leasing and as a service models, and crowdfunding / cooperative initiatives to reduce the cost, technological and non-technological barriers of realizing energy efficiency retrofits. Supermarkets are an excellent starting point within the larger segment of retail industry because they are energy intensive and an integral part of our social fabric via the delivery of food where educational campaigns and loyalty programs are already in place. Super Heero is particularly disruptive because its approach connects communities, supermarkets and shoppers in win-win scenarios to provide financing, technical, and non-technical support to unlock energy efficiency savings on supermarkets. At least two pilots will be carried out during the project with the aim to scale the approach on a wider scale and to other energy intensive sectors.
Within the Super-Heero project, there are two primary customer segments. The first are supermarket brands who are most likely looking for boost brand loyalty, improve staff satisfaction and implement Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) programs. The second customer segment is franchise owners who are likely looking first to technical assistance, easier access to project financing and a nice opportunity to do something different within their community which makes for great advertising.
Within the Super-Heero project, there are two primary customer segments. The first are supermarket brands who are most likely looking for boost brand loyalty, improve staff satisfaction and implement Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) programs. The second customer segment is franchise owners who are likely looking first to technical assistance, easier access to project financing and a nice opportunity to do something different within their community which makes for great advertising.
The first 18 months of the Super Heero Project saw the development of the project's innovative financial scheme, the process to implement it, the identification of suitable supermarket EE interventions, an approach to couple technologies together into retrofit packages, the design of customer reward strategies, and work with project-associated supermarkets to set the stage for pilot activities in the second half of the project. These results are available in the following public reports available on the project webpage at www.super-heero.eu: D1.1 (Analysis of policy framework and barriers), D1.5 (Financial and legal assessments of the Super-Heero schemes), D2.1 Super -Heero renovation measure catalogue for supermarkets, D2.2 (Guidelines for the implementation and financing of EE Measures in Supermarkets), D3.1 (Guidelines for supermarket customer awareness-raising strategies in energy, env. and social topics), D3.2 (Customer reward and loyalty program definition), D3.3 (Report on round table consultation for advertising campaign) and D4.6 (Roadmap for SUPERHEERO to contribute to achieving the EU’s objectives).
To put the Super-Heero innovative financial scheme into action, the following process is utilized which illustrates how it works. Step 1. Discovery: Surveys and audits to identify what the supermarket would like to do. Step 2. Technical Design, Offers and Contracting: Development and documentation of the technical solution, how that will be contracted and associated business plan. Step 3: Marketing, Engagement and Advertising: Design of the marketing campaign and strategy to connect to the supermarket's customer base and local-area citizens. Step 4: Financing & Crowdfunding Campaign: Implementation of a crowdlending campaign coupled to any other financing initiatives to raise the capital required to conduct the intervention measures. Step 5: Implementation & Monitoring: Installation of the EE measures, coupled to the engagement campaign and monitored for the capture of KPIs. Step 6: Assessment, Communication and Next Campaigns: The capture and promotion of a job well done and transition to the next intervention at the supermarket or replication at other supermarkets within the brand.
During the first project period, this process was initiated with several supermarket brands in Spain and Italy including NaturaSi (Italy), DESPAR (Italy), DIA (Spain) and Coviran (Spain).
To put the Super-Heero innovative financial scheme into action, the following process is utilized which illustrates how it works. Step 1. Discovery: Surveys and audits to identify what the supermarket would like to do. Step 2. Technical Design, Offers and Contracting: Development and documentation of the technical solution, how that will be contracted and associated business plan. Step 3: Marketing, Engagement and Advertising: Design of the marketing campaign and strategy to connect to the supermarket's customer base and local-area citizens. Step 4: Financing & Crowdfunding Campaign: Implementation of a crowdlending campaign coupled to any other financing initiatives to raise the capital required to conduct the intervention measures. Step 5: Implementation & Monitoring: Installation of the EE measures, coupled to the engagement campaign and monitored for the capture of KPIs. Step 6: Assessment, Communication and Next Campaigns: The capture and promotion of a job well done and transition to the next intervention at the supermarket or replication at other supermarkets within the brand.
During the first project period, this process was initiated with several supermarket brands in Spain and Italy including NaturaSi (Italy), DESPAR (Italy), DIA (Spain) and Coviran (Spain).
Super-Heero goes beyond the state of the art by offering a new way for supermarkets to connect to their customer base, attract new customers and unlock new value. It does this by sharing the benefits of EE interventions between the supermarket, the shoppers and the ESCO or other actor conducting the retrofits. This is made actionable by crowdlending by which an EE project is put online by a project proponent, citizens (shoppers) are invited to invest in that project and in return they get a return of their capital plus reward (combination of interest, points or coupons). The project proponent gains the ability to connect supermarkets and citizens in a new way resulting in a higher probability of winning jobs with supermarkets. The supermarkets attain more efficient stores, one less thing to manage and most importantly – shoppers that become sustainability advocates that are personally connected to the brand and interventions they made at their store location.
Within its near-term future (3-5 years post project), Super-Heero projects the following impacts:
● Engagement of 100 stores
● Mobilization of €4.7 Million of funding
● Energy savings of 7094 GWh/year
● Carbon savings of 6807 tCO2/year
The Super-Heero crowdlending platform and ecosystem of technology and service providers will become sustainable, lasting long beyond project completion. The process for communities working with local-area stakeholders will replicate from Padova and Madrid to other territories supported by local incentives and initiatives.
Within its near-term future (3-5 years post project), Super-Heero projects the following impacts:
● Engagement of 100 stores
● Mobilization of €4.7 Million of funding
● Energy savings of 7094 GWh/year
● Carbon savings of 6807 tCO2/year
The Super-Heero crowdlending platform and ecosystem of technology and service providers will become sustainable, lasting long beyond project completion. The process for communities working with local-area stakeholders will replicate from Padova and Madrid to other territories supported by local incentives and initiatives.