Title: Energy challenge: a demand side energy management experiment in households

Authors: Oona Negro

Addresses: Reseau Eco-consommation, Avenue Cardinal Mercier 59, 5000 Namur, Belgium

Abstract: Two hundred Brussels households were challenged: during six months, they had to adapt their everyday behaviours to save energy. Objective: to cut down |their| annual CO₂ emissions by 1 ton on average, i.e., more or less 20%. To achieve this, a whole set of tools was offered to the participants (advises to save energy, tables to collect the meter readings, calculator to evaluate the possible economy and follow the progression, website, helpdesk, experts advises and individual follow-up). This paper presents all the steps of this experiment from the recruitment to the final results, describing methodology, tools, motivations and barriers.

Keywords: demand side; energy management; energy consumption; household energy; engagement; challenge; behaviours; Belgium; greenhouse gas emissions; carbon dioxide emissions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2008.019457

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2008 Vol.9 No.4, pp.359 - 368

Published online: 12 Jul 2008 *

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