MeECHanisms | Make energy change happen toolkit

How to Save Energy in Households and Small Organisations: A Comprehensive Toolkit

If you’re looking to reduce energy consumption in households or small organisations, you’re not alone. Energy efficiency has become a priority for individuals and businesses alike, and for good reason. Saving energy can lead to lower bills, reduced carbon emissions, and a healthier planet.

But where do you start? How do you engage with energy users and work with them for lasting energy savings? That’s where the CHANGING BEHAVIOUR project comes in. This European initiative has developed a comprehensive toolkit to help you navigate the complex world of energy efficiency.

What is the CHANGING BEHAVIOUR Toolkit?

The CHANGING BEHAVIOUR Toolkit is a collection of resources designed to help individuals and organisations save energy. It includes a step-by-step guide, case studies, project stories, and a self-check to help you get started.

The toolkit is based on an open-source platform called Drupal, and it’s available for free download under a Creative Commons license.

Getting Started

If you’re new to the toolkit, there are four pages you should start with:

  1. About: This page explains where the toolkit comes from and the background of the CHANGING BEHAVIOUR project.
  2. Toolkit Introduction: This page provides a quick overview of the toolkit in just 15 minutes.
  3. Structure and Concepts: This page defines important concepts and explains what you can find behind each menu item on the site.
  4. Self-Check: This page suggests personalised starting points based on your needs, so you can get started on the right foot.

You can also check out the Questions and Answers page, which applies the toolkit to typical questions by previous users.

Step-by-Step Guide

The step-by-step guide is the heart of the CHANGING BEHAVIOUR Toolkit. It offers advice and tools for preparing, designing, and evaluating your energy saving project. The guide is divided into the following sections:

1. Setting Objectives and Defining Your Project

This section helps you define the objectives of your project and identify the stakeholders involved.

2. Analysing Energy Use and Behaviour

This section helps you understand energy use in your target group and identify the behaviours that need to change.

3. Developing a Strategy

This section helps you develop a strategy to change behaviour and reduce energy consumption. It includes tools for designing interventions and selecting the most effective ones.

4. Implementing and Evaluating Interventions

This section provides guidance on how to implement and evaluate interventions. It includes tools for monitoring energy use and behaviour, and evaluating the effectiveness of your interventions.

Case Study Highlight

The CHANGING BEHAVIOUR Toolkit also includes case studies to help you understand how the principles and strategies can be applied in real-world situations. One such case study is the Municipal Energy Efficiency Agreements.

Negotiated agreements to promote energy audits and investments in municipalities, these agreements aim to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in local communities. The target group for this case study is municipalities and local communities.

Project Story Highlight

Another project highlighted in the toolkit is the promotion of energy efficiency investments in a residential area in Finland through Micro-ESCOs. The project aims to create energy savings by implementing small-scale energy efficiency measures, such as improved insulation and ventilation, in residential buildings.

Licensing

The CHANGING BEHAVIOUR Toolkit is based on an open-source platform called Drupal, and it’s available for free download under a Creative Commons license (Attribution-ShareAlike). This means that you can use and adapt the toolkit for your own purposes, as long as you attribute the original work and share your modifications under the same license.