Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

NUDging consumers towards enerGy Efficiency through behavioral science

Project description

Individualised behavioural nudging for responsible energy consumption

There is a pressing need to convince people to be more responsible and exhibit more efficient behaviour towards energy consumption. Unfortunately, present interventions for policy-making do not appear to be successful enough due to a lack of customer personalisation as well as poor testing conditions. The EU-funded NUDGE project will design behavioural interventions that will result in lasting energy efficiency behaviour. NUDGE will apply an approach combining the analysis of consumer psychology and intervention design tasks based on tests and field trials. Behavioural science methods will be used to study the bases of individual behaviour and to tailor interventions for them. New interventions will be tested in five different EU states, presenting targeted variables, involved demographics and intervention forms.

Objective

Efforts to induce energy-friendly behavior from end users through behavioral interventions are characterized by lack of customer personalization (“one-size-fits-all interventions”), partial understanding about how different interventions interact with each other and contrasting evidence about their effectiveness, as a result of poor testing under real world conditions. The NUDGE project has been conceived to unleash the potential of behavioral interventions for long-lasting energy efficiency behavior changes, paving the way to the generalized use of such interventions as a worthy addition to the policy-making toolbox. We take a mixed approach to the consumer analysis and intervention design tasks combining surveys and field trials. Firmly rooted in behavioral science methods, we study individual psychological and contextual variables underlying consumers’ behavior to tailor the design of behavioral interventions for them, with a clear bias towards interventions of the nudging type. The designed interventions are compared against traditional ones in field trials (pilots) in five different EU states, exhibiting striking diversity in terms of innovative energy usage scenarios (e.g. PV production for EV charging, DR for natural gas), demographic and socio-economic variables of the involved populations, mediation platforms for operationalizing the intervention (smart mobile apps, dashboards, web portals, educational material and intergenerational learning practices). We are a multidisciplinary team of 10 partners marking solid expertise in behavioral science, (mobile) user interface and policy design; synergies of different stakeholders (energy providers/cooperative/communities, consumer associations, technology providers); and extensive networks of expert groups, industrial & consumer associations amplifying our potential for tangible impact on policy-making at all levels.

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

RIA - Research and Innovation action

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-LC-SC3-2018-2019-2020

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

INSTITUTE FOR EUROPEAN ENERGY AND CLIMATE POLICY STICHTING
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 226 625,00
Address
KINGSFORDWEG 151
1043 GR Amsterdam
Netherlands

See on map

Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 226 625,00

Participants (10)

My booklet 0 0