NUI Galway and its partners in the Horizon 2020 project ENERGISE have launched an online database of best practice examples of energy initiatives from 30 European countries.
The database was launched last week in Brussels as part of European Sustainable Energy Week.
The €3.7 million pan-European Horizon 2020 project is being lead by NUI Galway, and involves ten partners in total.
In ENERGISE, sustainable energy consumption initiatives are defined as activities that deal with reducing energy related carbon dioxide emissions from households.
This can either be in reducing the actual energy consumption or substituting fossil fuels with renewable energy sources.
In response to the increasingly urgent climate change challenge, the European Commission is promoting several climate and energy targets with the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonise the economy.
However, the current pace and scale of change is insufficient to achieve the necessary sustainability transitions in the energy system as there is an increasing realisation that meeting energy targets is highly dependent on several complex aspects of final energy consumption patterns or energy demand.
Recognising these concerns, the innovative ENERGISE research initiative aims to achieve a greater scientific understanding of the social and cultural influences on energy consumption.
The project develops, tests and assesses options for a bottom-up transformation of energy use in households and communities across Europe.
The ENERGISE research team has conducted a systematic classification of over 1,000 existing sustainable energy consumption initiatives from 30 European countries.
The open access online database informs users about the content, scale and objectives of sustainable energy consumption initiatives that specifically address final consumption, as well as providing an assessment of how the challenge of addressing excessive energy consumption is understood.
Dr Frances Fahy, lead coordinator of the ENERGISE project from NUI Galway, said: “The database and interactive map will be an invaluable resource for energy practitioners, researchers, community groups or anyone seeking good practice examples of energy initiatives from all over Europe.”
