Energy transition: the state-of-the-art of clean energy competitiveness

Last October, the EU Commission released the Clean Energy Transition – Technologies and Innovations Report (CETTIR the in-depth analysis to the first annual Competitiveness Progress Report (CPR) based on the results of the Low Carbon Energy Observatory. eTEACHER was mentioned among the EU-funded projects using ICT to improve citizens behaviour towards energy efficiency.

Moving towards net-zero economies and societies can only be successful when citizens and private energy users go along with the required changes. It is therefore important to understand the perspective and the role of citizens in the energy market and in the energy transition at large.

To engage citizens in the energy transition, it is important to identify potential accelerators – such as social innovation – as well as social or behavioural barriers and levers to greater citizen engagement. This is recognised in the EU’s scenarios for 2050, as the scenarios that achieve higher GHG reductions are those that couple technological solutions with consumer choices that reduce or use energy demand in a more efficient way.

Using Social Sciences is critical in order to better understand public perceptions of energy policies, corresponding choices and forms of organisation and behaviour, as well as surrounding contexts and governance arrangements and how they could be adapted to the new challenges. In addition, factoring in Behavioural Sciences is key to both understand the factors that affect citizens’ participation in the energy transition, and to design more effective interventions enabling them to become actors of change.

The benefits of integrating Social Sciences and Behavioural Sciences were demonstrated in a range of H2020 projects that provided guidance, lessons and recommendations on how to increase citizen engagement. Among these, the CETTIR (Clean Energy Transition Technologies and Innovation) working document includes also eTEACHER. The project develops a user-friendly app to turn energy management technologies into easy-to-use services. Such apps – as CETTIR states – can also attract consumers/citizens by offering an added value, such as an overview of their energy consumption in real-time.

The full report is available here.

eTEACHER app, in particular, provides numerous piece of information to improve the energy behaviour of its users, such as:

• tailored real-time recommendations based on your energy behaviour
• the amount of CO₂ saved
• the energy consumption of your room, apartment, and building
• as well as the energy saved weekly and monthly
• the energy mix of your rooms, to make you more aware of your energy use
• a ranking board compete and connect with other users
• a dashboard to provide comfort feedback on indoor air quality or on the overall comfort of the room
• the comfort conditions details of your room, apartment or building

The app can also boast a sophisticated brain that turns incoming feedback into real data to help managers and users better understand their energy consumption and, consequently, improve their energy behaviour.

To learn more about the project, watch the eTEACHER video guides on our YouTube channel.