GoodDeeds: Digitally engaging & empowering employees for energy demand reduction

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial)

Applied Research and Development

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Sociology)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Psychology)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Computer Science and Informatics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Architecture and the Built Environment)

Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)

Dr RJ Bull
Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development (IESD)
De Montfort University

Standard

EPSRC

04 March 2013

03 September 2014

18 months

£181,536

Energy

East Midlands

Digital Economy : Digital Economy

Dr RJ Bull, Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development (IESD), De Montfort University

Professor PD Fleming, Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development (IESD), De Montfort University
Dr KN Irvine, Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development (IESD), De Montfort University
Professor MW Rieser, School of Media and Communication, De Montfort University

Project Contact, Leicester City Council

GoodDeeds will use digital technologies to facilitate behaviour change through engaging and empowering employees to reduce the environmental impact of public buildings. Almost 20% of the UK's energy consumption and CO2 emissions arise from non-domestic buildings. Behaviour change initiatives could have a significant impact given current estimates that around 30% of energy in buildings is currently wasted. The aim of the research then is to work with Leicester City Council to develop a set of social media/smartphone tools that the local authority can use to reduce the energy demand across its building stock. This research aims to explore the opportunities for and impact of digital technologies on user-behaviour and energy demand reduction in the non-domestic setting through enabling building users to both understand the environmental impact of their activities and to act in networks through social media applications of the digital technology.For example, social media platforms offer building-users the ability to view the energy consumption of the building and offer comment if the consumption is unexpectedly high. Photos or video can be taken and posted of any issues; knowledge can be shared on how best to manage a room's temperature; visitors can share their views and energy managers can share best practice and gain insight from building-users if their building energy management system is flagging up an alert. Importantly the research aims to explore the potential of social media tools to overcome the lack of empowerment many building-users feel in being unable to control or affect the building's energy performance.Findings from the project should increase understanding on how ICT can help society meet challenging and ambitious carbon reduction targets. Given the high energy demand and carbon footprint of the built environment there is a pressing need to implement effective and affordable energy demand reduction strategies in non-domestic buildings. The potential impact of Gooddeeds then is in finding an affordable ICT based solution for building users to collaborate, share knowledge and mitigate some of the errors inherent in the solely technical approach. This could impact on the way buildings are managed, building energy management systems are operated and how building users experience and perceive buildings. But this is not simply about buildings. Gooddeeds seeks to demonstrate that solutions to the grand challenges of our age will not be resolved by merely 'top down' solutions but by approaches that insist on the engagement and nurturing of active citizens who understand their responsibilities to their environment and to each other, and who act together for the mutual good

23/09/13