Abstract
Through the Social Electricity Online Platform (SEOP) European project, various learning modules, educational content and online eco-feedback platforms have been developed, to raise the awareness and knowledge of citizens about energy, the environment and sustainability. The platform allows European citizens to become educated on energy-saving practices and techniques, including the use of renewable technologies at their home. Moreover, through the Social Electricity application, people may become aware of their electrical energy consumption by means of comparisons with the corresponding electrical consumption of their friends, as well as with the total consumption in the street, neighbourhood, village, city and country where they live, in a collaborative and social environment. In this paper, a pilot study performed in 8 European countries involving more than 300 European citizens is presented, in order to demonstrate the influence of online learning modules and eco-feedback platforms on the everyday lives of people, in terms of rational energy use and energy savings. In this pilot, participants have been divided into two groups: the one uses the four learning modules of the platform and then the Social Electricity application, whereas the latter uses only the application. This paper describes our overall findings after three months, exploring the completeness and educational value of the learning modules, and the potential of Social Electricity as an effective online tool for personal energy management. The results also evaluate the impact, behavioural change and the increase on energy awareness among the two groups, as well as the general effectiveness and acceptance of the platform.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.16.3.15803
Highlights
The module provides a background on the EU policies for energy management and some good practices that can be used to achieve energy savings in houses or office environments
With this module, users can become familiar with energy management techniques that can be used in daily life and learn what can be gained by applying some of these energy management techniques at their own home
During the summer months of 2015, a large pilot study was performed in the countries of the project partners (Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Malta, Lithuania, Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia), in order to evaluate SEOP and its online products on their effectiveness and acceptance regarding influencing the European citizens for more rational use of energy and reduction of their personal footprints
Summary
A pilot study performed in eight European countries involving more than 300 European citizens is presented, in order to demonstrate the influence of online learning modules and ecofeedback platforms on the everyday lives of people, in terms of rational energy use and energy savings. In order to tackle these issues, the Social Electricity Online Platform (SEOP) research project has been created with the promise of developing a social ICT platform that allows European citizens to be educated about energy saving practices and techniques, helping them to perceive the crucial importance of energy conservation for the society and the environment (Social Electricity Application, 2012)– (SEOP Project, 2013).
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