vgbe energy journal 7 (2022) - International Journal for Generation and Storage of Electricity and Heat

IEA – Empowering people to act
Empowering people to act:
How awareness and behaviour
campaigns can enable citizens to
save energy during and beyond
today’s energy crisis
Brian Motherway, Kristina Klimovich, Emma Mooney and Céline Gelis
Abstract
Bürger beim Handeln unterstützen:
Wie Sensibilisierungs- und
Empfehlungskampagnen die Bürger in
die Lage versetzen können, während
der heutigen Energiekrise und darüber
hinaus Energie zu sparen
Eine globale Sicht auf die Nachfrageseite der
Energieversorgung war noch nie so wichtig
wie heute. Versorgungsunsicherheit, hohe
Preise und dringende Klimaziele weisen auf
den Wert von Energieeffizienz und Energieeinsparungen
hin. Die Regierungen reagieren darauf
mit verschiedenen Maßnahmen, darun-
Autors
International Energy Agency – IEA
Brian Motherway
Head of Energy Efficiency
Kristina Klimovich
Programme Officer - Energy Efficiency
Hub
Emma Mooney
Energy Analyst, Energy Efficiency
Céline Gelis
Intern, Energy Efficiency
Paris, France
ter gezielten Zuschüssen und Kampagnen zur
Nachfragereduzierung. Gut konzipierte Kampagnen
können die Bürger dazu motivieren,
ihren Energieverbrauch zu senken. Es wurde
viel darüber gelernt, wie man Kampagnen zur
Bewusstseinsbildung und Verhaltensänderung
ausgestaltet, um eine maximale Wirkung
zu erzielen. Vier Schlüsselkonzepte sind dabei
entscheidend: Die richtige Botschaft vermitteln.
Vermittlung der Botschaft. Die Kombination
von Informationen mit Erkenntnissen
über das Verhalten. Kampagnen für einen Krisenkontext.
l
A global focus on the demand side of the energy
equation has never been more important.
Supply uncertainty, high prices and
urgent climate targets all point to the value
of energy efficiency and energy savings.
Governments are responding with various
measures including targeted grants and demand-reduction
campaigns. At the IEA’s recent
7th Annual Global Conference on Energy
Efficiency, energy ministers from around
the world agreed that “energy efficiency and
demand side action have a particularly important
role to play now as global energy
prices are high and volatile, hurting households,
industries and entire economies” and
called on “all governments, industry, enterprises
and stakeholders to strengthen their
action on energy efficiency.”
This commentary was originally published online
on the website of the International Energy
Agency, IEA, www.iea.org
Well-designed campaigns can motivate people
to reduce their energy use. For example,
in the United States, some estimates suggest
that up to 20 % of home energy demand
could potentially be saved from behavioural
changes in the residential sector. One estimate
for India suggests the potential for energy
savings through behavioural adjustments
to be in the range of 3.4 to 10.2 TWh
per year by 2030. The IEA’s 2021 report The
Potential of Behavioural Interventions for
Optimising Energy Use at Home shows that
campaigns can achieve a wide range of impacts
in terms of amounts of energy saved.
Even beyond today’s energy crisis, IEA modelling
highlights the importance of behavioural
measures for achieving net zero targets.
Many lessons have been learned on how to
design awareness and behaviour change
campaigns to achieve maximum effect. It is
clear that good design matters – simply
transmitting information will not change behaviour
and poorly designed campaigns often
do not deliver their expected impact.
The choice of message, the tone, how the
campaign is designed and the transmission
channels, can all fundamentally affect the
resulting impact on behaviour. Four key concepts
are crucial:
––
Getting the message right
––
Getting the message across
––
Combining information with behavioural
insights
––
Campaigns for a crisis context
Getting the message right
The correct messaging sets the foundation
for an effective awareness campaign.
The first choice is narrative: what themes or
stories will be used to communicate the issues
and prompt the desired actions. Campaigns
typically focus the narrative around
three approaches:
1 Saving money: for example, the America
Saves save energy save money campaign
gives homeowners energy tips based on
real cost-saving projections. (F i g u r e 1 ,
example)
vgbe energy journal 7 · 2022 | 71