Behavioural insights for energy efficiency

EVIDENT is a research project that focuses on residential energy consumption, aiming to correct the consumers’ energy-related misconceptions and enhance energy efficiency.

A main goal is to translate behavioural interventions into real-world policies, relying on original research conducted by the EVIDENT consortium. Behavioural interventions are commonly used for promoting energy efficiency. A recent example is the European Commission – Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) campaign as can be seen in the below commercials:

These commercials are part of an agreement to put in practice EU policy objectives such as: the promotion of an inclusive, value-based model of sport; good governance in sport; protection of minors, and others. You can find more details here: https://sport.ec.europa.eu/news/european-commission-and-uefa-sign-third-cooperation-agreement

An example of EVIDENT supporting EU policies

The EVIDENT project is mainly structured around five use cases, where use case 1 regards estimating the importance of consumer feedback in residential users (see EVIDENT blog 1: https://evident-h2020.eu/the-evident-consortium-implements-its-first-field-experiment/).

This use case provides historical data on energy consumption, and personalized energy conservation tips in a simplified manner. In effect, this research contributes to the goals and requirements of EU policies. For example, the EU Electricity Directive, part of the Clean Energy for All Europeans Package, requires that “[…] the final customer shall have easy access to complementary information on historical consumption allowing detailed self-checks.” While the EU Directive sets out an objective to be achieved, it is left to the individual EU Member States to achieve this objective however they see fit.

Through EVIDENT’s work on designing and implementing home energy reports or relevant digital platforms, the competent Member State authorities can be informed on how to design such interventions and measure their effectiveness. In this manner, the tools developed by the EVIDENT projects, their application and the insights obtained, support the implementation of the Directive, both in terms of the legal requirements, but most importantly in the achievement of it goal to increase energy efficiency.

Relevant links

[1] Directive (EU) 2019/944 of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0944

[2] National transposition Directive (EU) 2019/944 of https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/NIM/?uri=CELEX:32019L0944