A new monitoring tool for businesses has been developed by researchers at the University of Nottingham led by Dr Alexa Spence, to help reduce energy use and cut costs.
The e-Genie tool is an energy feedback system created by researchers at the University of Nottingham’s school of Psychology and Horizon Digital Economy Institute in conjunction with University College London and the Centre for Sustainable Energy. It's purpose is to engage staff with energy data and support them to take action to reduce energy use.
The first large field based trial of the tool was carried out at Nottinghamshire County Council offices and the results of this have recently been published in Building Research and Information which showed reductions in energy use of 25% after two weeks, and which continued to decrease over time, with a total of 37% reduction after six weeks. Changes made were primarily in social energy behaviour such as discussing energy saving actions with colleagues, or proposing energy efficiency measures.
Phil Keynes, Team Manager at Nottinghamshire County Council was involved in the project and said: ‘’e-Genie proved a really useful and visual way of positively engaging staff in facilities and energy management. It helped our staff to understand the complexities of maintaining comfort levels throughout the building and generated some great ideas for improvement.’’
Posted on Tuesday 23rd January 2018