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Energy consumption feedback helps cut power use

The results of a pilot campaign employing feedback on energy consumption in the workplace, points to a significant potential for energy saving through smart metering combined with 'reflection' workshops, which present participants with their energy using practices and help bring about a change in behaviour.

With the agreement of users, electricity consumption was monitored in an office building using smart meters and the results fed back to the participants. The results were an impressive 25% reduction in base load power consumption within the pilot period. Key to the campaign was the presentation of detailed power consumption data to participants in a 'reflection' workshop in which people could see a graph of their workplace kWh consumption in 5 minute intervals - virtually letting them know when they turned on their computer.

The workshop provided the ideal platform for participants to discuss their energy using practices and identify opportunities for improvement. It generated lively group discussion where participants identified their significant level of energy consumption outside of work hours; times when they switched on a particular piece of equipment; who were the major culprits; what equipment they could switch off and how they agreed to control each other in turning off certain items of key shared equipment. With the help of the moderator, users went through a list of all equipment used in the office in order to get a feel for how many devices each person uses and how much energy they need to run them.

This element of 'Participatory Design' meant that people were involved in the saving strategy, so much so that they requested extra smart meters to measure energy consumption on a single device level. In the weeks after the workshop and with the additional smart meters in place, people started to identify equipment with high stand-by consumption and began to turn it off. Comparing base-load energy consumption before and after the workshop showed a 25% reduction.

A key to stimulating energy efficient behaviour was the juxtaposition of energy consumption data against energy using habits during the workshop, which led to a collective awareness of the energy use of electrical equipment so that people became aware of their own energy wasting behaviour and led them to identify opportunities for savings. However, in using such an approach, organisations should be careful to ensure that people maintain control over their own consumption data and obtain full co-operation from staff ideally through pilot campaigns.

• Further information:
• Source: Sustainable Energy Practices at Work: Understanding the Role of Workers in Energy Conservation. Schwartz T., Betz M, Ramirez L, and Stevens G.

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Staff donate their energy to help good cause

In motivating staff to save energy, the ad agency Wieden + Kennedy decided to appeal to people's better nature by donating the savings to charitable giving. Their Off-On campaign encouraged people to reduce their energy consumption by using less and switching OFF equipment and appliances, with the agency investing all the savings in turning ON the power to light a children's home in Nairobi, Keyna, through solar energy. Central to the campaign was showing people how much energy they were using through real-time energy monitoring and feedback through screensavers and LED displays and relating what they're turning off in London to what they're turning on in Nairobi. Cutting their annual energy consumption by 10% would save enough money to light up 4 classrooms and a kitchen with solar panels in the Children's Home, implemented by NGO SolarAid. The idea was to give people something tangible to achieve, contribute to a good cause and use energy more sustainably, therefore addressing both environmental and social issues at the same time.

Real-time energy monitors with amusing feedback graphics for computers and other equipment, let people know how much energy they were using and gave them a smile or a frown depending on whether it was good or bad. Posters, stickers, email reminders, displays, a video and feedback on how the lighting of the Children's Home was progressing, helped maintain the momentum and remind people that their actions were having an impact. Pictures of the project on-site in Nairobi and actual drawings of the building by the children from the Home, were displayed in W+K's gallery reception area to provide tangible reminders of the real benefit of cutting workplace energy use.

The campaign was a success; even with staff numbers rising by 50 over the year, electricity consumption was cut by 9% in the first three months. However, after the initial surge of action, savings started to drop off, prompting the campaign team to target specific equipment at different times, rather than using general appeals to cut consumption across the board. One of the first targets was a 'Computers Unplugged' mini-campaign promoted through entertaining tannoy announcements and themed tunes with surprise rewards. Other target equipment followed.

The onus of the savings effort was not just on staff, as the company also played their part in cutting waste with various measures such as changing all kettles to eco kettles; switching to low-energy lighting; installing "off" switches to blocks of desks so that everything could be switched off at the flick of a switch; and the installation of a 'Warming-Up Wardrobe' with OFF-ON branded sweatshirts.

• Further information:
• Wieden + Kennedy Off-On

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Interactive energy workshop makes energy saving fun

Staff participation is one of the key elements for motivating change in environmental behaviour, and making such engagement a fun activity, can reduce resistance, build ownership and motivate people to make the change work. This was the thinking behind the Carbon Trust Northern Ireland's (CTNI) interactive energy awareness training workshop 'Taming the Bigfoot'.

The highly interactive team-building workshop is delivered with the help of a virtual character C.R. Bon, a carbon explorer with a mission to help your organisation become more energy efficient, nab the Bigfoot and reduce carbon footprints. Participants are divided into teams of 4-6, and each team plays five modules, achieving a score for each game. The workshop's five modules are:

1. Carbon Pursuit: a life-sized floor game where participants answer energy trivia questions covering home, work and leisure and receive energy related facts in return;
2. Carbon Factor: a physical challenge emphasising the more careless you are, the more energy you waste, and makes people physically feel the exertion of energy waste by having them pump harder to inflate a Bigfoot balloon;
3. Carbon Fever: a multi-media computer game where teams start with a carbon footprint of 100 and must spot potential carbon hot-spots on screen and answer a carbon or energy related question to lower their carbon footprint;
4. Bigfoot FM: in search of participants' creative sides, this session requires each team to record a 30 second jingle with a theme surrounding their organisation's energy efficiency or lack of it!
5. Carbon Quest: an electronic quiz where teams pit their wits against each other using voting handsets and the ability to see real-time scores invoking friendly competition.

At the end of the event the winning team is awarded a certificate and all participants are given a fact sheet with actions they can perform every day for a month to reduce their carbon footprint and hunt down the Bigfoot!

Successful environmental change programmes must include an employee training and awareness component, and a carefully designed and entertaining workshop like CTNI's 'Taming the Bigfoot' can play its part in creating the environmental behaviour changes necessary for a sustainable organisation. This fun and interactive workshop has been a big hit with participants and many organisations are lining up to roll it out and help catch the Bigfoot.

• Further information:
• Contact the Carbon Trust Northern Ireland

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Maintaining the momentum with award and recognition programmes

Award and recognition programmes can be a powerful ally in sustainability programmes; they provide positive feedback, help showcase achievements, boost motivation, and contribute to maintaining the momentum by encouraging sustainable actions.

To help sustain its energy programme, the US manufacturer 3M conducts an annual Plant Energy Awards and Recognition Program, which cites the achievements of 3M energy teams rating their efforts on three performance criteria: 1) progress on 3M's corporate energy efficiency goals; 2) effectiveness of energy efficiency projects; and 3) the savings made.

Facilities are scored on their performance on each criteria and awards are made to teams using a four-level rating, based on points achieved: Bronze (7-8 points), Silver (9-11 points), Gold (12-14 points) and Platinum (15 points). Apart from the recognition, awards range from certificates, to special lunches, to Award dinners with 3M Execs. Facilities that fail to meet any of the criteria are provided additional support to help improve their energy efficiency performance.

According to 3M's corporate energy management there are three essential factors for implementing and maintaining their recognition programme:

1. Continuously asses the costs and benefits (energy savings and employee engagement) of the program. In the 3M programme, the financial savings and value of greater employee engagement surpass the costs.
2. Have more than one evaluation method. This gives a more balanced assessment of achievements and evens out the varying situations confronted by different facilities.
3. Maintain an emphasis on innovation and knowledge sharing. Longer established teams may put less effort into looking for new ways to reduce energy consumption. By stressing innovation and learning from others, the momentum can be maintained.

The 3M programme is highly successful in providing valuable motivation to increase employee engagement in energy issues and boost communication across sites and between employees and senior management. And to prove it, since 2005 alone, 3M has made $100 million in energy savings by implementing more than 3,300 employee-inspired projects at 3M facilities worldwide.

• Further information:
• Source: 3M's Model Rewards and Recognition Program Engages Employees and Drives Energy Savings Efforts. US Dept. of Energy, Industrial Technologies Program.

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Employee vigilance scheme improves HSE

Getting everybody to act safely and sustainably is part of the ethos of the support services and construction company Carillion; and this means challenging unsafe and unsustainable behaviour. To achieve it, Carillion implements a 'Don't Walk By' policy whereby any member of staff can act to ensure that any health and safety concerns are identified and corrected by completing a report card. Although mainly focused on health and safety, 'Don't Walk By' also addresses issues relating to the environment.

The system supports people to identify and challenge unsafe situations, and other unsustainable activity, and report it through the 'Don't Walk By' report card which can also be submitted online, by Smart Phone or SMS, or via a 24-hour telephone helpdesk called AIRline. Reports are logged and measured and personal feedback provided on what is being done about people's comments, where appropriate. Some sites also provide feedback through a 'What you said, what we did' board. Incentives may be given where reports are entered into a draw with prizes such as a £50 M&S voucher for the lucky winner, or in other cases, Carillion agreed to donate £1 to a local charity for every 'Don't walk by' card completed. The company has also set targets for submission of 'Don't walk by' cards at one or two per person.

The philosophy behind the initiative is one of awareness and openness and ultimately changing attitudes and behaviour. 'Don't Walk By' aims to give everybody ownership of their own health, safety and environment and that of others, where people have the confidence to identify and challenge un-safe or unsustainable situations and make suggestions for improvement.

• Further information:
• http://www.carillionplc.com/sustainability/communities/2communities_h_s_communications.asp
• http://www.dontwalkby.net/

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Downloadable awareness campaign resources

The Carbon Trust has made available an impressive suite of resources for the Mineral Products Association (MPA) to help businesses in that sector cut energy costs by embarking on a 'carbon reduction journey'. Available through the Aggregates Carbon Reduction Portal resources include Posters, Toolbox talks, How-to guides and guidance Videos. Although targeted at the extraction industry, the resources provide a useful model for any sector in terms range, content and quality.

• Further information:
• MPA Aggregates Carbon Reduction Portal

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Tip: Keeping waste out of landfill

Label your general waste bins as 'Landfill' and make people think twice about throwing recyclable waste into them!

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Resources

Visit www.energyXchange.eu to see examples of awareness materials. Follow the links …

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