The EU ambitiously aims to increase energy efficiency and mitigate the negative impacts of climate change by gradually reducing net greenhouse gas emissions and become climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve this and similar goals, much effort has been devoted to the development of digital infrastructure which allow energy consumer to monitor their energy consumption more accurately and efficiently. Nonetheless, energy efficiency requires radical behavioral changes in the energy-related behavior of consumers, starting from every-day activities such as the way people use heating and electric appliances.
The project “NUDging consumers towards enerGy Efficiency through behavioral science” (NUDGE) seeks to analyze the behavior of European citizens with concern the energy consumption and to consequently design and test nudging interventions on different segments of the population. Pilot projects will indeed be carries out in households, energy communities, and schools in five EU countries (Greece, Belgium, Germany, Portugal and Croatia). The research and experimentation of the NUDGE project also aims to develop recommendations tailored to each country and design more general policies at European level.
The project, deeply rooted in behavioral science methods, will investigate individual psychological and contextual variables underlying consumers’ attitudes in order to customize the design of behavioral interventions for them.To do this, it takes a mixed approach to the consumer analysis and intervention design with tasks combining surveys and field trials. The designed interventions are compared against traditional ones in field trials (pilots) in five different EU states, presenting remarkable diversity with regard to innovative energy usage scenarios, 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).
More information:
Visit the NUDGE official website
Download the brochure and poster
… And don’t forget to follow NUDGE on Twitter: @NUDGEH2020
