eSESH

As part of the ICT PSP programme of the European Commission Competitiveness and Innovation Programme, the eSESH project aimed to design, develop and pilot new solutions to enable sustained reductions in energy consumption across European social housing. This was accomplished firstly by providing usable ICT-based services for Energy Management (EMS) and Energy Awareness (EAS) directly to tenants, secondly by providing effective ICT monitoring and control of local generation of power and heat and thirdly by providing social housing providers, regional and national government with the data they need to optimise their energy-related policy and investment decisions at national, regional and organisational level. The project helped Europe meet emission targets by achieving a significant reduction of energy consumption in European social housing.eSESH Advanced Energy Awareness Services (EAS) provide direct, timely and comprehensible feedback on energy consumption, enabling tenants to adapt their energy consumption behaviour. An EAS graphically visualises the energy (heating, electricity, water) consumptions which enables tenants to easily grasp this information and evaluate it in terms of whether their consumption is to be judged as high or not and in comparison to other consumers and over longer periods of time. The tenants get access to these services (EAS) through a web-based platform, a smartphone application or – in some pilot site dwellings through the TV set - which allows them to quickly and easily obtain consumption information at monthly, daily or even shorter time-intervals. Also they are able to compare their consumption to those of other tenants or an ‘average’ tenant, energy consumption by square meter, comparisons of consumption in the past and present year and month etc. The information is provided in a way showing the developments over the years and allows tenants to take appropriate action in case they judge their consumption figures to be too high. Some of the EAS implemented in pilot sites create tips for tenants on how energy consumption and costs can be saved based on the observed consumption patterns and figures. In addition, a comprehensive set of Energy Management Services (EMS) help reduce consumption peaks and optimise the timing of domestic consumption. Optimised timing of consumption can reduce generation capacity requirements and, with appropriate tariffs, tenant costs. EMS are also used to control delivery of locally generated, renewables-based heat and power. Pilot SitesThese new ICT-based services for social housing tenants have been evaluated in 10 pilots in 6 countries across Europe as depicted in the map. More than 5,000 social housing tenants have access to eSESH Energy Awareness and/or Energy Management Services in the pilots, which are designed to evaluate the impact on overall residential energy consumption. In each pilot site an integrated approach is followed, involving a team of different partners with corresponding skills and expertise working together to successfully implement and operate the different services. Typically, a pilot site team includes a social housing provider, an IT service provider responsible for the development and implementation of the web-based services and in some cases also a utility and energy provider.ActivitiesToday the EAS and EMS services are in full operation in all eSESH pilot sites. Comprehensive evaluation work was carried out in all pilot sites and this included energy consumption measurement and tenant survey data analysis. All results were reported in specific deliverables which are made available to the public. High profile dissemination activities including the by-invitation only European Parliament fair and event ‘Made in Europe’ and attendance and presentations at further high-profile events at national and European level were further project activities together with the successful organisation of national workshops in cooperation with other European projects.An assessment of the viability and cost-benefits of the eSESH services and reporting about these for each actor group in the pilot sites was conducted on which the exploitation plans for future service operation and roll-out activities can be based.Finally, an eSESH guide for replication of eSESH services within pilot sites and very importantly by other actors from outside eSESH has been developed to support a Europe-wide demonstration, implementation and roll-out especially in social housing but also beyond