The first meeting of the Dialogue Groups on Feedback and tailored advice for behaviour changes and Small-scale RES for heating (including Domestic Hot Water) was held on Wednesday 11 May 2022.

You can find attached to this post the agenda, presentation files and minutes.

The meeting presented the scope and the approach to develop the calculation methodologies for both Priority Actions. Then guest presentations provided insights from two other Horizon 2020 projects:

- Methodology to assess the impacts of behavioural changes from the NUDGE pilot projects, by Dr. Stratos Keranidis (domX, Greece)

- Insights from the ‘REPLACE your Heating System Calculator’, by dr. Gašper Stegnar (Jožef Stefan Institute – Slovenia)

Key points highlighted in the discussions:

(about feedback and tailored advice for behaviour changes)

- The methodologies available from Member States are mostly focused on electricity savings in the residential sector, but the sources used are rarely mentioned.

- The literature review shows that the savings lifetime is commonly assumed to be equivalent to the duration of the intervention promoting behaviour changes.

- The approaches used in the behaviour change interventions vary broadly, and so their results.

- Requiring empirical studies to prove the effects of the behaviour interventions can be a way to improve the reliability of the reported energy savings.

- The data collection should not be limited to direct monitoring of energy consumption, and should also include complementary relevant data / variables.

- It can be difficult to separate the effects of the behaviour interventions from other factors, especially in a context of rapidly changing energy prices.

(about small-scale RES for space heating and Domestic Hot Water)

- European standards and regulations provide a first basis, however difficulties were encountered in finding harmonised data at European level, as values in national methods vary broadly.

- The definition of the baseline might need to consider when the policy measure promotes fuel switching, as in this case it might be relevant to define a baseline according to the type of technology of the replaced system.

- The strong changes in energy prices since 2021 have a major impact on the costs of the different options for heating systems. Which can have a major influence on the decision of the building owners.