Energetic Self Monitoring Supports the Development of Plus Energy Quarters

The energy transition will need the engagement of people – and energy transition has to start in cities! And energy transition will not only be based on technological and structural innovations, but also on behaviour change of final consumers. In the course of several projects carried out by StadtLABOR in the last years, we found out that “People are ready to change – but not ready to be changed”. There are two reasons why there is almost no or very slow change in personal behaviour: 1) People do not know about their energy related behaviour and the impact connected to it and 2) they do not know how to change their behaviour without losing “Quality of Life”. Analogous to the recent trend of “self-monitoring” (health, weight, exercise,…) we opened a platform for self-monitoring of the personal behaviour related to climate change and energy transition. The themes covered by the platform are heating, hot water consumption, use of electricity, daily mobility, leisure mobility (evening, weekend) and mobility in holidays. Answering a few questions participants get feedback about a) the heating demand of their home, including comparison with theoretical values and the state of the art b) their modal split of mobility c) their personal energy performance certificate / energy profile and d) their personal CO2-emissions in t/year (excluding consumer goods). The platform has been tested with several people. The result of this test-run showed very little knowledge about personal energy consumption including the costs and impacts. Discussing the issues with test persons and filling the platform with their data together changed the awareness and made behavioural changes more probable. We will use and develop the platform further in ongoing and future projects. The individual data in a given neighbourhood can be compiled to characterise an urban quarter and to start collective activities