New report shows energy efficiency campaigns are missing a trick

22 January 2016, London - Only one in five energy efficiency behaviour change programmes actively identifies and removes barriers to change, suggesting that all too often building occupants may not be getting the help they need to act energy efficiently.

That is the surprise finding from the latest issue of the UK Energy Efficiency Trends report (Volume 13) produced and published by EEVS and Bloomberg New Energy Finance in association with Global Action Plan in January 2016.

The report provides evidence that no cost/low cost behaviour change programmes could be more effective if 80% of them focused more on making energy saving actions easier for building users at the outset.

The latest EEVS UK Energy Efficiency Trends report covers Q3 of 2015. It includes a dataset to help shed light on what constitutes a behaviour change programme and the impacts the initiatives are making on the ground. The research found that savings could be increased by using more behavioural levers and that while the breadth of communications was good, savings could be increased further if suppliers better understood organisational barriers to potential change.

With two decades of behaviour change experience, these issues are well understood by Global Action Plan.

"Successful behaviour change requires a solution that suits the local audience, desired actions, available communication methods and organisational culture. One size does not fit all," explained Chris Large, Senior Partner at Global Action Plan.

"The report shows the trend in engagement activities to be positive. There is a broad split between the different ways of reaching occupants, including the use of online and hard copy communications, senior lead messaging, face to face conversations, energy training and recruiting energy champions. This suggests energy teams are selecting methods that are right for their situation.

"However, the trend in the use of behavioural levers leaves room for improvement.

"Unlike engagement activities, it is good practice to use certain behavioural levers in most situations. Two behavioural levers are under-used. Identifying and removing barriers to change is a lever that overcomes whatever stops people being energy efficient. This is happening in less than 1 in 5 programmes run by energy teams, suggesting that occupants frequently may not be getting all the help they need to act energy efficiently. For example, if a bank of light switches in a shared office is not labelled, staff may hesitate to turn out the light for fear of plunging their colleagues into darkness.

"The other lever that is under used is emphasising the ‘other benefits' that energy efficiency brings beyond cost and carbon savings. Emphasising benefits to occupants has proven highly successful - such as in hospitals where the benefits of using natural light and lights-out curfews in helping patients to sleep was highly motivating to nurses.

"Often, this emphasis on occupant benefits is crucial, as leading with the savings may not align with building occupants' core motivations. For example, nurses are likely to care most about their patients' well-being, not energy bills and so encouraging nurses to remember to switch out the light is more powerful if the motivation is to help their patients rest and recover.

"The survey shows energy teams favour the savings message 70% of the time, but only communicate ‘other benefits' 25% of the time. If projects were to more frequently promote all benefits and to also help occupants overcome their barriers to change, savings from projects could be higher," he concluded.

Download the graph above here:EET Jan 2016 Figure 29
Download the full report here: http://www.energyefficiencytrends.co.uk/latestreport.html

Compiled from the results of a confidential, quarterly industry survey, the UK Energy Efficiency Trends Report clearly evidences industry trends and has become one of the sector's leading sources of market intelligence. The report covers both energy suppliers and consumers, providing differentiated results for each market sector.

The report is delivered by a research partnership between EEVS and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and supported by Bird & Bird, Bellrock and Schneider Electric.

Call for new respondents

New respondents are always needed to complete the survey. The ideal respondents fall into two categories:

• Directors within energy efficiency supply organisations

• Those responsible for reducing energy consumption within organisations

There is no restriction on size of organisation. Those interested in taking part in the next survey can register using this link: http://www.energyefficiencytrends.co.uk/join-community.html

Ends

To find out more, please visit www.energyefficiencytrends.co.uk or follow the EEVS team on Twitter @EEVSInsight. Alternatively, please contact Adrienne Robins at Green Tiger Communications:

Tel: 07855 643094. Email: adrienne@greentigercommunications.co.uk

Editors' Notes

The Energy Efficiency Trends Survey (Vol.13) was conducted between 14 October and 14 December 2015 and was completed by 67 UK-based energy and other senior managers (38 consumer organisations and 29 suppliers). Their answers related to the situation from the third calendar quarter of 2015.

The insight it provides is helping to transform levels of transparency and understanding within the sector - as well as supporting better, faster, more confident decision making in relation to commercial energy saving investments.

The analysis is produced quarterly, based on survey feedback from a wide range of commercial consumers and suppliers of energy efficiency.

The survey is delivered by EEVS and Bloomberg New Energy Finance and is supported by:

• Bird & Bird - international law firm with a specialism in the energy and utilities sector

• Bellrock - providing property and facilities management services to over 40,000 retail, commercial and public sector properties throughout the UK

• Schneider Electric - a global specialist in energy management improving energy efficiency and performance in more than 100 countries

EEVS is a leading global provider of performance assurance, analysis and information in relation to energy efficiency. This includes working with clients to devise and develop: performance management systems and strategies; procurement policies and tender evaluations; due diligence on performance contracts and guarantees; performance and financial risk analysis. Alongside this, an established team of energy analysts provides high quality, independent Measurement and Verification (M&V) services for all sizes and types of energy saving project. Since 2011 this team has evaluated the savings performance of over 400 schemes to the global good practice standard, IPMVP.

www.eevs.co.uk

Bloomberg New Energy Finance is the definitive source of insight, data and news on the transformation of the energy sector. BNEF has a staff of more than 200 based in key finance centres worldwide including London, New York, Beijing, New Delhi, São Paulo and Tokyo.

www.about.bnef.com

Global Action Plan is an award-winning charity that provides environmental behaviour change projects. Since 1993, we've helped over 750,000 people make practical changes that create environmental savings in businesses of all sizes, as well as communities, schools and with young people.

www.globalactionplan.org.uk