enCOMPASS: a European project for the sustainability of energy consumption

A FUNERGY experiment was also carried out in schools, with the aim of verifying its effectiveness in promoting knowledge on the issues of energy sustainability of pupils and their families. EnCOMPASS researchers visited numerous classrooms to explain the purpose and rules of the game. After that, the students divided into groups played with FUNERGY. At the end of the play session, the researchers and pupils discussed the play experience and the teachers instructed the students to continue playing at home with friends and family. For this, each pupil received a personal copy of FUNERGY. The test involved 9 middle and elementary schools (8 in Northern Italy, 1 in Switzerland), for a total of 1,316 pupils from 57 classes. Both the children and their parents, before and after school activities, filled out evaluation questionnaires anonymously, from which it appears that the play experience has improved knowledge and awareness on energy saving issues. Over 75% of participants downloaded the digital application combined with FUNERGY to continue playing at home.

Il progetto ha anche rivelato le difficoltà degli interventi su larga scala per il cambiamento comportamentale. Le principali difficoltà hanno riguardato l’acquisizione di dati di consumo ad alta frequenza, il rispetto della privacy dei consumatori, il tasso di ingaggio degli utenti nell’attività sperimentale e il mantenimento dell’effetto dell’intervento per periodi di tempo lunghi.

The project also revealed the difficulties of large-scale interventions for behavioral change. The main difficulties concerned the acquisition of high-frequency consumption data, the respect for consumer privacy, the rate of user engagement in the experimental activity and maintaining the effect of the intervention for long periods of time.