The initial preparatory work around household engagement, included the developing approaches to identifying, and protocols for engaging, energy poor households. Building on this work, country-specific implementation plans were prepared for the recruitment and engagement of participant households. A lot of effort was also expended on building capacity within the consortium, through the development of guidance documents, provision of training, and through peer learning. All of which was aimed to ensure that partners were adequately equipped to engage participants on both the physical attributes of their house, but also importantly of their lived experience of energy.
Energy advisors engaged participating householders to both understand the energy performance of their dwellings and appreciate their energy-related practices and behaviours. This developed understanding was used to inform the preparation of tailored energy advice supporting householders to understand and change their energy-related practices, habits and behaviours. It also informed the selection of targeted small energy conservation and energy efficiency measures for deployment to the households. Ongoing support was provided (advice, guidance, assistance with grant applications, etc.) to the participants over the duration of the project. By the conclusion of the project, some 3,908 households – with over 9,200 residents – were recruited to participate in the project. Across each of the participating countries, there were substantial reductions in energy consumption, with average annualised primary energy savings across the project estimated at 4,091 kWh per household.
In the institutional focused strand of the project, substantial desk studies were undertaken on the energy and energy poverty policy context, and stakeholders from across the policy domain were engaged through interviews and focus groups. This engagement, informed by the knowledge of the partners, provided a review of EU and national policy on energy vulnerabilities, and contributed to the development of an overview of citizens’ perspective on energy policy needs. Following this initial foundational work, in-depth engagement of key stakeholders formed the basis of an exploration of emerging innovative governance and business instruments to address energy poverty. This work focused on various entities attempting to change structural conditions that perpetuate energy vulnerability. Three workshops were undertaken using a business modelling approach as a heuristic to characterise and understand initiatives in BG, IE & NL. Building on these preceding policy tasks, a proposed agenda for policy renewal was developed through a series of policy workshops undertaken with key policy actors.
The work of EnergyMeasures was communicated and disseminated widely. This included web site, social media, videoes, newsletters, popular publications, project workshops and seminars, contributions to academic conferences, open access publications, joint event with other projects, national policy briefings and a final project workshop. An edited volume entitled “Living with Energy Poverty Perspectives from the Global North and South” (Routledge 2023) developed from two conference panels organised in the context of EnergyMeasures. Three open-access chapters from this book directly present work from EnergyMeasures, and offer a strong pillar of the project’s C&D efforts.
