STEP BY STEP
COMMITMENTS FOR ENERGY SAVING
Activity report – Month 36
Public document February 2018 Produced by:
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 649733.
A FINAL OVERVIEW
STEP BY STEP is coming to an end. Throughout 3 years of activity, the project has worked to provoke behaviour change of households in targeted cities as far as energy saving is concerned. Changes in behaviour should gradually lead to actual reduction of energy consumption and to finally invest in energy efficient products.
This report aims at giving a final overview about what has been achieved thanks to the project’s action and sharing final data and results1 about the households involved, the coaching phase and energy-savings action undertaken.
KEY RESULTS
More than 22.000 households living on the targeted territories have been targeted by a neighbourhood-scale communication and they have received the visit by a field advisor
63% of the inhabitants that have opened the door have accepted to join the project. This ratio varies largely between the cities with 91% in Spain and 49% in Poland.
6706 households have answered to a questionnaire in door-to-door
More than 80% of the participating households have been coached over a 20-month period
In average, the participants have successfully changed at least two of their habits (from 2.3 in Poland to 5.3 in Spain)
The project has enabled to increase the knowledge of participants on energy-savings topics
The project has enabled to deliver real energy savings for households that have benefited from the coaching
DETAILED RESULTS
W
HO HAVE BEEN THE PARTICIPANTS?
All the households living in the four targeted municipalities (L’Alcudia – Spain; Cefalù – Italy; Ghent – Belgium, Warsaw – Poland) - about 22.000 households - had the opportunity to hear about the project and its goals through the effective visibility activities carried out in the targeted areas (distribution of letters, launching events, involvement of key stakeholders, etc.).
About 6.707 households have accepted to participate to the project after a first interview.
1.409 in L’Alcúdia
1.441 in Cefalù
744 in Ghent
3.113 in Warsaw
In all municipalities, the door-to-door campaign has enabled to involve at a large-scale a various population without prior targeting of a specific segment. Thus, one of the main asset of Step by Step has been the capacity
1 All the data included in this report are from gd6d platform and they have been communicated to the Author by E3D environnement.
to involve inhabitants of a given neighbourhood to reduce their energy consumption including those who were not before that interested by this topic.
About the age of participants involved, as the graph below is showing, we can state that the overall sample has been quite balanced. The largest share of them has been over 65 years old (20%) and they represent the largest group in Cefalù (24.6%). In L’Alcúdia this group has been equally balanced with those aged “35-45 years”, representing each a share of 23%. In Ghent, the involved participants have been younger as the largest share is represented by the age group between 25 and 35 years old. Instead in Warsaw, the biggest group has been represented by people aged 55-65 years old (23.9%).
The average number of members in targeted households has been 2.7. 33.3% of the sample has been represented by households with two persons. Two-person households have represented the largest group in 3 out of 4 communities (Cefalù: 28.7%, L’Alcudia: 32%, Warsaw: 28.2%) with the exception of Ghent where the dominant group has been single-parent families (30.6%).
8%
17,50%
16,20% 16,40%
17,30%
24,60%
5,20%
15,50%
23%
17,20%
16,10%
23%
13,10%
25,50%
19,30%
16,60%
13% 14,50%
8%
19,80%
18,50%
10,30%
23,90%
19,40%
Less than 25
yrs 25-35 yrs 35-45 yrs 45-55 yrs 55-65 yrs More than 65 yrs 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Age range
Cefalù L'Alcudia Ghent Warsaw
14,1
28,7
25,9 25
5,1
1,2 13,5
32
26,3
22,3
4,4
1,4
30,6 29,1
14 12,9
7,4 5,9
15
39,2
24
16
3,8 1,9
1 2 3 4 5 6
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Number of family members
Cefalù L'Alcudia Ghent Warsaw
The average size of houses has been between 60 m2 to 100 m2 (share of 44%). This has been the largest value in Cefalù (57%) and Ghent (39.9%). Instead, bigger houses have been the ones in L’Alcudia (60/100 m2 surface has been the 47.2%) and smaller ones in Warsaw (between 40 m2 and 60 m2 has been the size of the 52% of targeted households).
WHAT THE PARTICIPANTS DID DURING THIS PROJECT
?
During the first door-to-door interview, in addition to the agreement to participate to the project:
86% of the participants have accepted to try some very practical energy-saving actions to do at home during 1 month.
On average, people have chosen 1.8 actions, whereas most people chose 2 actions. Trends are similar between the 4 cities.
93% has given an email or a phone number and so they have accepted the long-term coaching.
After, and during about 20 months, the participants have benefited from a tailored and personalized coaching by email or by phone. Here below you can find a final picture of the results of coaching phase.
2 Meaning more than 4 coaching actions in 18 months.
Average number of actions tried by
participants
Number of phone
coaching Participants to the
coaching phase Participation to the coaching
phase
Participants active in the coaching
phase2
L’Alcudia 6.6 6.8 1221 87% 81%
Cefalù 3.1 3.9 1167 81% 61%
Ghent 3.5 0.2 327 44% 7%
Warsaw 2.2 5.7 2614 84% 82%
1,2
11,8
57
28,5
0 0,4 1,5
46,6 47,2
5 5,8
22,5
39,9
26
6 6,7
52
39,3
2,4 0,3
< 40 mq 40 mq/60 mq 60mq/100mq 100mq/200mq > 200mq 0
10 20 30 40 50 60
Size of houses
Cefalù L'Alcudia Ghent Warsaw
With the exception of Ghent where the phone coaching has been stopped prematurely after 3 coaching, the percentage of participation at the coaching has been almost at the same level attesting a very good rate of interest throughout project’s long.
In terms of most selected actions, the graph below shows the top 5 selected by households both per city and at global level3.
An interesting fact is that the actions about purchasing low-cost energy-saving devices (LED bulb, tap aerator) have been particularly popular, significantly preparing the groundwork to purchase more expensive devices or to undertake more complex actions related to energy savings. The Step by Step project has been particularly efficient to influence a large panel of participants to adopt new behaviours (without prior interest in energy- savings topics).
During the further steps of the program, more difficult actions or actions linked to investment have been proposed. Some very popular actions have been: limiting the use of air conditioning in summer (75% of the ones who accepted this mission succeeded) or heating in winter (great success of the winter collective challenge with about 1200 participants across the 4 countries). Even more challenging, in L’Alcudia, 47% of the interviewees have accepted to acquire information about the possibility to change the current energy provider for a green energy one. The 2 collective challenges, winter and summer, were as well very popular and efficient to largely and simultaneously involve the participants to act to reduce their energy consumption.
3 Please remember that the choices carried out in Warsaw significantly have influenced the global result as the numbers of households involved has been significantly higher than the other cities.
3361 2781 1941
1695 1651
447 384 343 251 280
884 483 90
609 453
348 253
180 106
254
1682 1661 1329 729 664
Install a LED bulb Installing an eco-tap aerator Wash hands with cold water Save hot water in kitchen Turn off mobile during the night
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
TOP 5 selected ENERGY-SAVINGS ACTIONS
Warsaw Ghent L'Alcudia Cefalù At global level
WHAT THE PARTICIPANTS THINK ABOUT THIS PROJECT
?
A final survey4 has been carried out to collect a final feedback about the STEP BY STEP experience.
At global
level L’Alcudia Cefalù Warsaw
The programme helped me to save
energy 60%
(1592/2635) 86%
(578/671)
70%
(149/212)
49%
(865/1752) I have bought energy-saving devices 76%
(2000/2633) 90%
(606/670)
85%
(179/211)
69%
(1215/1752) I have adopted new energy-saving
actions 74%
(1879/2526) 99%
(655/664)
73%
(139/191)
65%
(1085/1671)
As attested from the table above, the evaluation of the participation to STEP BY STEP project is absolutely positive in all cases. The rate of satisfaction is particularly positive in L’Alcúdia where the total of respondents has declared that they have adopted new energy-saving actions.
4 Please, consider the limitation of the results due to the fact that the number of people that have answered is lower than the all involved. Moreover, the survey has not been carried out in Ghent.
F
INAL“
ENERGY-
SAVING PARTY”
INC
EFALÙ ANDL’A
LCUDIA.
In Cefalù, a final 2-day event has been organised on the 27th and 28th of January 2018.
During the final conference, results about the impact of the project at local level have been shown and the wider theme “how to protect environment through solar energy” and the importance of “sustainable mobility”
have been faced during a public conference thanks also to the contribution of external speakers.
Youngsters from different high schools have participated to the conference and they have tested their knowledge about energy-saving topics thanks to an amazing quiz followed by the award ceremony.
An energy-saving Fair has been organised in the streets of the city with stands of companies and experts from the field of renewable energy where citizens could get more information about specific energy-savings products and devices.
Finally, it has been the possibility to try of electric cars, motorcycles and e-bikes.
In L’Alcudia, a final event was organized on the 10th of February 2018. The event embraced environmental topics linked to the Step by Step campaign such as energy saving, recycling and eco products. Several social groups of the municipality have been invited to contribute to the programme of activities with the aim of reaching a higher audience and to increase the awareness on the campaign results to a larger part of the population.
All the primary schools of L’Alcúdia participated in the event. Children from 6 to 12 years old read texts and poems on recycling. Moreover, the Schools of Music of l’Alcúdia sang ‘L’Alcúdia recycles’ which is the soundtrack of the campaign on recycling launched by the town council.
Other activities included in the event were a market with eco products, a stand with green energy providers where visitors had the opportunity to be informed on tariffs and the procedure to move to green electricity, an info point on energy saving tips, traditional games for children and an exhibition of objects made of recycled materials.
Finally, after the presentation of the Step by Step results, a forum of discussion between the households who had participated in the campaign was opened in order to share their experience and to transmit the energy saving knowledge acquired to those people in the audience who hadn’t participated.
Primary school children reading texts and poems on recycling
The Schools of Music of l’Alcúdia sang ‘L’Alcúdia recycles’.
Market with eco products and info point on energy saving tips
Stand with green energy providers and exhibition with objects made of recycled material
Traditional games for children and distribution of energy saving kits in schools
Presentation of results and forum of discussion
FINAL REMARKS
The territorial partners have successfully deployed an innovative behavioural change program towards 6700 participants that have benefited from an awareness-raising door-to-door with commitments actions and a long-term coaching. Replicating a behavioural change program in 4 European places with completely different types of community has been of an exceptional nature and must be considered as a key achievement of the Step by Step project.
The efficiency of the STEP BY STEP behavioural change program lies in the ability to involve and interact with a large panel of households for several months. More than 3800 households – on the 6700 participants - have successfully changed at least 3 of their habits to reduce their energy consumption.
For the other households, the partners have defined a full picture of good practices and lessons learned.
Improvements should be made on the following main aspects: varying the communication and coaching contents and adapting the program and its technics of communication to cultural features. This experience will therefore constitute a valuable knowledge for future project’s follow-up and/or replication.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 649733.
This deliverable has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.
