2nd EnercitEE symposium:
Communication and motivation to increase Energy Effciency

To foster the exchange of experience on “Communication and Motivation to increase Energy Efficiency (EE)” among the EnercitEE partners, the 2nd Component Seminar took place from 1st to 2nd February 2012 in Annecy/France. The symposium covered the complex issue and various facets of achieving behavioural change as it is very challenging to motivate citizens and local authorities’ staff to get actively involved into energy efficiency actions and to implement concrete measures. With around 30 participants all members of the Working- and Steering Group as well as representatives from all 11 sub-projects took part in the meeting.

In the afternoon of the meeting’s first day, the French partner from Haute Savoie took the EnercitEE members on a virtual study visit on a low energy building presenting an interesting approach on the involvement of the public and raising awareness of alternative building constructions and materials.

The second day of the meeting focused on achieving behavioural change. Being very experienced in motivating and involving citizens in energy efficiency actions, the French association Mountain Riders informed on its aims, activities and tools on how to communicate energy efficiency and environmental issues to citizens. Christophe Lastennet – external expert of the national energy agency ADEME - provided 8 theoretical steps to achieve behavioural change in general and for energy efficiency programs (key note speech “Appetit for Change – theory of change” (www.appetiteforchange.net).

Afterwards, selected sub-project leaders shortly presented their experiences and approaches on communication and motivation of citizens within their sub-projects. This was followed by a second workshop discussing the different regional methods on how to reach different target groups; on success factors for communication and motivation initiatives; and on evaluation of ‘soft measures’.

All in all it was a successful and informative meeting with fruitful discussions. The partners got a good understanding of the different communication and motivation strategies and tools in the regions, and they certainly had the opportunity to learn from each other.

 

Corresponding documents for download (PDF-files)