InBetween
Assisting people to identify energy wastes and learn how they can conserve energy
| Time | Project Coordinator | Funding Scheme |
|---|---|---|
| Start date: 01/11/2017 End date: 31/10/2020 |
RINA Consulting S.p.A. | H2020-EU.3.3.1 |
Challenge
Inducing a behavioral change towards Energy Efficiency represents an unsolved societal challenge with potentially enormous environmental impact, but it is still difficult to get people to adopt a more energy-efficient lifestyle due to several factors:
- low monetary benefits for the individuals (an average energy bill does not represent a significant portion of the home budget)
- low capability to change energy demand patterns and energy use practices due to aspects related to lifestyle, habits, daily routines, work/family commitments
- lack of global conscience related to the impact of energy generation and use on the environment (pollution, Greenhouse Gas emissions) , and the tendency to perceive the individual consumption as insignificant
- the complexity of existing ICT platforms/tools which usually require intensive User engagement often interfering with the normal, everyday, activities.
InBetween goes beyond currently available ICT technologies used for inducing the End User behaviour change towards more energy efficient lifestyles by simultaneously assisting Users to identify energy wastes, learn how they can conserve energy and motivate them to act.
In particular, the project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 768776 to develop a cloud based platform offering advanced energy services.
InBetween platform will allow Users to integrate their building’s connected devices and systems with advanced energy analytics and optimisation services to create a comprehensive and customized recommendation and feed-back solution.
Approach
RINA is the Project Coordinator of InBetween and it is responsible for undertaking the project coordination and project management activities.
Moreover, we are in charge of InBetween Platform Integration and Interoperability Middleware, which means implementing the key integration component known as the cloud-based middleware and adapting the communication gateways to support the common messaging model based on Canonical Data Model (CDM).
We are also in charge of the communication and exploitation of the results achieved in the framework of the project and, finally, we are in charge of the Replication Plan and Impact Assessment of InBetween innovative technologies.
Conclusion
In conclusion, buildings account for 40% of the total EU energy demand and it is reported that the change of consumer’s behaviour can reduce energy consumption ranging from 5 to 20%.
Smart metering technologies and home automation systems have already proved to have an essential role in enabling the End User behaviour change, and therefore will be found in the very core of the InBetween solution.
In particular, the project will imply the following main impacts for the EU community:
- Significant reduction of final energy consumption prompted by innovative ICT solutions clearly quantified and substantiated, and subsequent reduction of CO2 emissions
- Accelerated wider deployment and adoption of user-friendly ICT solutions prompting behavioural change and energy efficiency, including plans for its sustainability after the project's life and potential/readiness for replication
- Number of energy end-users changing their behaviour documenting why and how changes are an effect of particular measures taken, as well in terms of the sustainability of the behavioural change
