GoodDeeds: Digitally engaging & empowering employees for energy demand reduction

GoodDeeds will use digital technologies to facilitate behaviour change through engaging and empowering employees to reduce the environmental impact of public buildings. Almost 20% of the UK's energy consumption and CO2 emissions arise from non-domestic buildings. Behaviour change initiatives could have a significant impact given current estimates that around 30% of energy in buildings is currently wasted. The aim of the research then is to work with Leicester City Council to develop a set of social media/smartphone tools that the local authority can use to reduce the energy demand across its building stock. This research aims to explore the opportunities for and impact of digital technologies on user-behaviour and energy demand reduction in the non-domestic setting through enabling building users to both understand the environmental impact of their activities and to act in networks through social media applications of the digital technology.

For example, social media platforms offer building-users the ability to view the energy consumption of the building and offer comment if the consumption is unexpectedly high. Photos or video can be taken and posted of any issues; knowledge can be shared on how best to manage a room's temperature; visitors can share their views and energy managers can share best practice and gain insight from building-users if their building energy management system is flagging up an alert. Importantly the research aims to explore the potential of social media tools to overcome the lack of empowerment many building-users feel in being unable to control or affect the building's energy performance.

Findings from the project should increase understanding on how ICT can help society meet challenging and ambitious carbon reduction targets. Given the high energy demand and carbon footprint of the built environment there is a pressing need to implement effective and affordable energy demand reduction strategies in non-domestic buildings. The potential impact of Gooddeeds then is in finding an affordable ICT based solution for building users to collaborate, share knowledge and mitigate some of the errors inherent in the solely technical approach. This could impact on the way buildings are managed, building energy management systems are operated and how building users experience and perceive buildings. But this is not simply about buildings. Gooddeeds seeks to demonstrate that solutions to the grand challenges of our age will not be resolved by merely 'top down' solutions but by approaches that insist on the engagement and nurturing of active citizens who understand their responsibilities to their environment and to each other, and who act together for the mutual good.

The findings from Gooddeeds should have clear economic and societal impacts as we explore how ICT can help society meet challenging and ambitious carbon reduction targets. Given the high energy demand and carbon footprint of the built environment there is a pressing need to implement effective and affordable energy demand reduction strategies in non-domestic buildings. Notwithstanding the valuable contribution sophisticated ICT based building energy management systems (BEMS) can make to reduce this environmental impact we know that purely technical solutions are limited and still at the mercy of human error. The potential impact of Gooddeeds then is in finding an affordable ICT based solution for building users to collaborate, share knowledge and mitigate some of the errors inherent in the solely technical approach. In the context of the built environment this will impact on the established organisational culture of how BEMS systems are installed, commissioned and (most importantly) managed. It will re-shape the effectiveness of public services through changing the relationship between building energy managers and building users. This could impact on the way buildings are managed, BEMS systems are operated and how building users experience and perceive buildings. But this is not simply about buildings. Gooddeeds seeks to demonstrate that solutions to the grand challenges of our age will not be resolved by merely technocratic 'top down' solutions but by approaches that insist on the engagement and nurturing of active citizens who understand their responsibilities to their environment and to each other, and who act together for the mutual good.

Gooddeeds has the potential to impact on multiple levels at an international scale. In the longer term, if this pilot project is successful (and effectively disseminated) it has the potential to achieve economic, societal, cultural and environmental impacts (e.g. through reduced fuel billls to companies; a greater understanding of the role social media plays in modern society; changing workers culture from being passive recipients of building management to empowered citizens, possibly leading to greater civic engagement in a wider cultural context; and reduced CO2 emissions from non-domestic buildings). Some of these potential future impacts can be illustrated by considering our case study in more detail: The diverse range of individuals, networks and groups that we work with within Leicester City Council will have a unique opportunity to participate in the development and implementation of a tailored social media platform. They will benefit from interacting and working with a diverse range of building users, colleagues, energy managers, building engineers and facilities managers alongside social media experts to pioneering this new approach to energy demand reduction; Findings from Gooddee2ds will directly impact the communication and engagement strategies of Leicester City Council alongside the practical day-to-day management of buildings. It is expected that these findings, and the actual social media platforms, could then be applied to a whole range of environmental issues as well as wider public services; Economic benefits are two-fold through reduced bills and because technical changes can be both expensive and time consuming to build into existing building stock. Understanding how building users can be empowered to take responsibility for their buildings using existing tools provides a quick win and affordable solution. Benefits should be both in terms of new and cost-effective processes to manage their building stock more effectively alongside the potential for an actual reduction in energy consumption. Finally, the solution of public engagement and collaboration mediated through social media platforms and smartphones offers an innovative and replicable approach not just to the management of energy in buildings but the wider grand challenges our modern world.