eChallenges e-2009 Conference Proceedings

Paul Cunningham and Miriam Cunningham (Eds)

IIMC International Information Management Corporation, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-905824-13-7

SAVE ENERGY: User Behaviour

Transformation through ICT based Tools
and Methodologies
Álvaro OLIVEIRA1, José Luiz MOUTINHO2, Denis Kern HICKEL3
1
Alfamicro, Alameda da Guia 192 A, Cascais, 2750-368, Portugal
Tel: +351 214866784, Fax: + 351 214866752, Email: mail@alfamicro.pt
2,3
Graduate Student, Design PhD Programme
Faculty of Architecture, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal
Abstract: The main objective of the SAVE ENERGY Project is to address the
challenges to close the attitude-behaviour gap between the awareness that energy
waste is a problem and behavioural transformation to reduce energy
consumption. The project consortium, representing 16 partners from five EU
countries, implemented 5 pilots in diverse public buildings to promote behaviour
transformation through the use of Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT), namely real time information and serious games interacting with building
management systems. Two of the several innovative aspects of the project are
the Living Lab Methodology for implementing the pilots and the use of a large
set of loosely-coupled Web 2.0 tools for dissemination.

Keywords — Behaviour Transformation; ICT; Real Time Information; Serious

Game; European Public Buildings; Energy Efficiency; Living Labs; Web 2.0

1. Introduction
Buildings are responsible for up to 40% of final consumption of energy and similar
percentages of greenhouse gases emissions in OECD countries. Furthermore, the share
of the building sector in global energy consumption is still expected to increase in the
near future, notwithstanding the constant supply of energy efficient innovations [1].
Being central to most of economies, the building sector has, therefore, substantial
impacts on the environment. Improving its energy efficiency throughout the building
life cycle may contribute to significant enhancement of the quality of life. One study
suggests that four out of five most cost-effective measures to reduce global energy
consumption and greenhouse gases emissions are related with buildings, namely
building insulation, lighting systems, air conditioning and water heating, and
implementing these measures may even result in short term net savings [2]. One the
other hand, “efficiency improvement has a positive effect on energy security, local and
regional air pollution abatement and employment” [3]. To curb current trends and
promote change, the European Commission has adopted an Action Plan for energy
efficiency aimed at achieving a 20% reduction in energy consumption by 2020 [4]. The
Action Plan includes, amongst several goals, measures to improve the energy
performance of buildings and to encourage and consolidate rational energy consumption
behaviour [5].
Information and communication technologies (ICT) are widely reckoned to play a
pivotal role in the transition to energy-efficient buildings. From building management
systems monitoring and controlling most of the operational aspects of energy

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consumption in buildings to smart real-time information systems that enables
individuals to receive relevant data and act upon their energy consumption patterns, new
services, products, processes and behaviours are changing the present building design
and management paradigms. To support this entire paradigm shift, technological
innovation must be supported by major behavioural transformation at all levels of
society towards better production and use of energy. This transformation may include
the provisioning of “tools for more energy-efficient business models, working practices
and lifestyles, such as eCommerce, teleworking and eGovernment applications, and
advanced collaboration technologies, ICTs can reduce demand for energy and other
material resources”. It is argued that major energy savings can be achieved through ICT,
thus helping to attain objectives on climate change and security of supply energy policy
objectives [6].
In this regard, public buildings are considered to play an important role both as
consumers of energy and as demonstrators of good practices for energy efficiency and
sustainability due to its very high public exposure. It is suggested that significant
impacts can be achieved “bringing together relevant stakeholders such as authorities
responsible for public buildings and spaces (local, cities and regional authorities) that
are committed to implement energy efficiency policies and that are willing to cooperate
for testing innovative ICT based solutions in this field” [7].
Within this context, the SAVE ENERGY Project addresses the challenge of
behaviour transformation towards climate change, namely through the use of ICT as an
enabler of energy efficiency in European public buildings. In the next section we will
present an overview the SAVE ENERGY Project. The following section will give
details about the technological platform and then some aspects of the implementation
and dissemination will be discussed. In the final section we will wrap up with our
expectations for the project and conclusions related with behaviour transformation for
energy efficiency.

2. The SAVE ENERGY Project Overview

The SAVE ENERGY Project aims to transform the energy consumption behaviour of
public building users – focusing on public servants and citizens – by applying existing
ICT-based solutions, specifically real-time information from building management
systems and serious games, in an innovative user-driven perspective. The project
brought together 16 partners - including public authorities, public agencies, universities,
research institutes, SMEs and corporations – to implement five large-scale pilots in five
different countries (see Figure 1) to test, benchmark, validate and stimulate new
strategies and actions to the wider uptake of energy-efficient behaviours.
The pilots are committed to implement energy efficiency policies and to cooperate
for the evaluation of innovative ICT-based solutions covering a varied range of building
envelopes, usage patterns, functional programmes and available technologies. From
office spaces to public schools, the building management systems of the chosen spaces
make available information about heating, air conditioning, ventilation, lighting, and
other equipment or devices to be either distributed in real time or fed into serious game.
The real time information technologies used in the pilots also allow some level of
controlling based on preferences, past knowledge or energy saving targets. While
important savings are expected from enhanced building management systems and
improved awareness of consumptions patterns, it is the direct transformation of
behaviours related with energy efficient that is likely to bring the most results.
The main objective of the SAVE ENERGY Project is to address the challenges to
close the attitude-behaviour gap between the awareness that energy waste is a problem

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and behavioural transformation to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse
emissions, globally considered as “one of the greatest challenges facing the public
climate change agenda” [8].

Figure 1 – SAVE ENERGY Pilots

The key goals for the pilots are:

• Helsinki: The Helsinki pilot comprises 2 well-equipped public schools and focus
on further improving energy efficiency with the support of ICT-based solutions.
Project results and methodologies will be replicated to other public schools as
well as considered as inputs for formulating innovative energy efficiency. The
pilot is working in close liaison with NOKIA partners on wireless technologies.
• Leiden: The Leiden Pilot monitors and stimulates behaviour transformation in
citizens’ service areas (e.g. front counter) in the originally 16th century Town
Hall. The ICT-based solution is expected to be scaled up and implemented in
other public buildings at regional level in Holland.
• Lisbon: The Lisbon Pilot compares two office areas with similar consumption
patterns, but with different levels of usage feed-back information, to foster
behaviour transformation among public servants. The Municipality expects to
broaden the project results to other buildings of the municipality and to
proactively disseminate the results to other municipalities.
• Luleå: The Luleå Pilot is located at the recently built Culture House which hosts
music concerts, theatre plays, art exhibitions and a library, among other
facilities. The main goals are to further extend the current energy efficiency
performance of the building applying enhanced ICT-based solutions to the
energy management system and to empower the users of the building to take
appropriate actions through real time information. The pilot will share its energy
efficiency practices with other public buildings in the city to stimulate behaviour
transformation at municipal level.

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 • Manchester: The Manchester Pilot is situated at the Town Hall, a listed historical
building completed in 1877. ICT is considered to be the best approach to achieve
the required energy efficiency performance, considering the major restrictions to
modifications in the building envelope or interior. The municipality will use the
project to support current policies towards energy-efficient buildings.

3. SAVE ENERGY Technological Platform

Each pilot is equipped with a local technology platform comprised by sensors, smart
meters and actuators linked to the building management systems which provide real
time energy consumption data from lighting fixtures, ventilation, air conditioning
equipment, electrical appliances, office equipment and other devices. The data is
gathered locally and integrated with a remote platform that aggregates, analyzes and
distributes real time information to be published on the Web or on mobile devices like
mobile phones and PDAs. The effect of behaviour transformation over energy
consumption can be simulated by multichannel serious games.

Figure 2 – SAVE ENERGY Platform Architecture

One of the most innovative aspects of the technological platform is the interoperability
of several technologies, communication protocols and equipment standards to provide a
seamless environment of devices and interfaces where users will be able to interact and
proactively act upon the building performance to increase its energy efficiency.
3.1 Building Management Systems
The network of sensors in each pilot is connected to a controller that also receives the
information of smart metering devices and sends out information to the actuators.
Besides the data related to electricity consumption, the platform monitors temperature
inside and outside the building, natural light levels so that these parameters can be
evaluated and compared with known patterns of energy consumptions to identify
sources of waste. These devices also enable the user to act through commands sent from
a PC, a PDA or a mobile-phone via wireless communications and save energy.
The gathered data feeds the real time information systems and, combined with best
practice models, also generates a set of options for building managers to make decision
about the building consumption patterns. The building management systems data is also
used as an input for the serious game which is customized to each pilot particular

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environment, providing an engaging virtual environment for citizens, public servants
and policy makers to gain awareness, understanding and experience regarding to the
issues associated with energy efficiency in public buildings.
3.2 Real Time Information on energy Consumption
It is argued that real time information help not only to sustain a desired behaviour
transformation [9] but foster sustainable behaviour as well as [10]. Moreover, previous
research suggests that real time information systems, when combined with education
and incentives, may interest, motivate and empower people to reduce the unnecessary
use of resources [11].
SAVE ENERGY real time information systems integrate, and make interoperable, a
large set of existing ICT applications to trigger alerts and guide relevant stakeholders
through the decision process required to maximize energy efficiency. The real time
services are considered critical to promote and sustain user behaviour transformation in
public buildings, where the main users, namely public servants and citizens, are rarely
informed about the environmental and economic impact of their actions and attitudes in
the overall building energy consumption patterns.
3.3 SAVE ENERGY Serious game
Serious games exploits game technology and game design principles to rise above pure
entertainment adding layers of simulation, learning and decision making to real life
problems. According to the experiences acquired in past European projects [12], the
game play allows a more effective interpretation and implementation of sustainable
energy policies namely energy efficiency practices. Citizens and public servants may
become aware and simulate the consequences of living in a world of ever more
expensive energy and the potential impact (economic, environment and political) of
their current individual or overall energy consumption patterns in public buildings.
The SAVE ENERGY serious game creates a challenging and fun experience for
players that span from the pilot buildings’ users to the home hobbyist that comes across
this game. While doing this, the game also shapes the player’s behaviour towards
energy saving issues. This is accomplished by associating the player’s performance and
score to correct decisions and actual energy saved.
The serious game is set in virtual environments that recreate daily situations of
energy consumption related to the scope of the project pilots, namely offices and public
buildings. Offices and public buildings both represent shared spaces among users, so
this is clearly represented throughout the game. The scenarios are typified versions of
carefully selected areas of the pilots with both private working areas and shared spaces
to depict the largest amount of situations where energy saving can be achieved. The
serious game also offers a good game play experience being played either as a single
player or within a community.

4. SAVE ENERGY Implementation and Dissemination

Two of the most innovative aspects of the SAVE ENERGY project are related with the
Living Lab methodology used for the pilot implementation and the strategy based on
Web 2.0 for the dissemination of results.
4.1 The Living Lab Methodology
A Living Lab is a user-driven open innovation environment in real-life settings built
upon public-private partnerships in which the main driver for innovation is the process
of co-creation for new services, products and societal infrastructures. Living Labs

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encompass societal and technological dimensions simultaneously in a business-citizens-
government-academia partnership [13, 14].
The Living Lab systemic approach in the context of the SAVE ENERGY project
aims to involve all the relevant stakeholders from the very beginning of a new idea,
creating the motivation to share and discuss their experiences and expectations. This
collaborative environment, where users are expected to co-create the solutions, leads to
a natural acceptance by the stakeholders who will feel empowered to test, evaluate and
report their own experience with the new solutions in a controlled social environment.
The Living Lab methodology ensures that the transformed behaviours and the
recommended policies are accepted by informed, motivated and empowered users.

Figure 3 –Spiral Approach to Game Development

The Living Lab methodology is aligned with current user-driven spiral approaches
to agile game development where successive releases (i.e. alpha, beta, gold, etc.) are the
result of interaction between project streams, namely vision, integration and innovation,
testing and evaluation, implementation, dissemination and management, from concept
to best practices benchmarking and dissemination [15, 16].
4.2 Dissemination Strategy
To achieve wider impact and to ensure the replication of the project results, a proactive
dissemination plan was implemented, including brochures, newsletters, thematic
workshops and participation in international energy efficiency conferences. Besides
those more traditional activities, SAVE ENERGY implemented a large, but loosely-
coupled, set of applications based on Web 2.0 best practices.
The SAVE ENERGY Internet presence aggregates tools, services and communities
to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among all stakeholders. The information
and the interaction may occur in both the public and the private sphere. The SAVE
ENERGY tools include several applications for messaging and collaboration among the
inner core of the stakeholders, with emphasis on the consortium partners. Events are
posted and shared through Google Calendar and the knowledge repository is
constructed over an open Wiki platform. Other tools include Skypecasts, email and
SMS. The SAVE ENERGY services syndicates data to and from the building
management systems and operate as a broker of information for the real time
information systems and the serious game.
The SAVE ENERGY communities will provide a social networking platform to
build online communities of practice where users can share location, interests and

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activities or participate in the interests and activities of other users. These communities
are closed linked with best of the breed Web 2.0 tools already available in the Internet
to share blogging and microblogging posts, podcasts, documents, videos, bookmarks,
presentations and photos. The SAVE ENERGY Portal aggregates information from all
the other components through widgets, RSS feeds, links, add-ons and embedding of
applications or multimedia resources.

Figure 4 - Internet Dissemination Conceptual Architecture

The implementation of the dissemination strategy also includes the creation of an
Advisory Board composed by an external group of experts with high level public profile
in energy efficiency and related technologies. The Advisory Board will contribute and
validate the project vision and concept and will provide strategic guidance for the
implementation. This roadmap will, at the end of the project, provide the technical,
social, economic and political guidelines emerging from the project as a tool to sustain
the SAVE ENERGY vision beyond the project duration and its community. The project
policy engagement at regional, national and European levels is greatly facilitated by the
Advisory Board contact networks and public opinion making capabilities which
facilitate the emerging energy efficiency policy recommendations derived from pilots’
results.

5. Conclusions
The results so far point to some challenges and opportunities related not only with the
pilot implementation but also with the actual behaviour transformation of users. Some
of the most noticeable challenges are related to the difficulties to leverage the partners’
commitment among other stakeholders, namely the real pilot users, i.e. public servants
and citizens. Web 2.0 tools for messaging and collaboration mitigate these difficulties
and enable a more effective knowledge sharing environment. Decisions associated with
the interoperability of the platform, which depends on different suppliers and
technologies, posed another challenge which was dealt by openly discussing with the
pilots’ core stakeholders their concerns and negotiating acceptable solutions for all. The
third challenge concerns the development, utilization and interaction between the users
with the SAVE ENERGY services, building information systems, real time information
and serious games. In this regard, the Living Lab methodology plays a critical role to

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create the necessary creative and collaborative environment to quickly discover, test and
implement the best solutions.
The continuity of the energy savings will, nonetheless, depend mostly on the
intensity and the sustainability of the behaviour transformation of all stakeholders. As
the ICT-based solutions are tested in real life environments, validating a set of
assumptions and user-driven requirements may reduce the risk for public decision
making and facilitate the replication of best practices across the European Union. The
goals for long term energy savings will, therefore, depend above all on the involvement
of relevant stakeholders including industry players such as technology and service
providers in providing a roadmap with innovative ways to close the energy efficiency
attitude-behaviour gap in public buildings in Europe and the rest of the world.

Acknowledgement
The SAVE ENERGY project is partially funded by the European Commission under
Grant Agreement No. CIP-ICT-PSP-238882.

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