Rethinking Energy Efficiency in Buildings: How Users Become the Driving Force for Energy Savings

The active involvement of users in the energy-efficient operation is an essential component of sustainable building management strategies. Unlike private homes, where personal electricity or heating bills drive energy-saving behaviors, commercial buildings require different approaches to motivate and raise awareness. Transparency, targeted communication, and reward systems with clearly formulated incentives can turn users into active drivers of energy savings, paving the way for environmentally friendly and efficient buildings.

Challenges in User Engagement

Engaging users in energy-saving measures within commercial buildings presents complex behavioral economic and psychological challenges. Reactance occurs, for example, when individuals perceive external requests to save energy as a restriction of their personal freedom. Additionally, there is a general human tendency to stick to familiar behaviors, which often prevails even when potential gains are on the horizon, according to the German Economic Institute.

When involving users in energy efficiency measures in building complexes, it is important to consider that individuals often base their decisions on the actions of others. If these conditions are considered within a sustainable strategy, a range of highly effective measures can emerge to motivate users to actively save energy.

Raising Awareness Through Information and Transparency

The fundamental basis for achieving a change in energy use in large building complexes is transparency about consumption and the existing potential for savings. This is because well-informed users are more likely to be motivated to minimize environmental impacts and energy waste in their own behavior. By communicating data on current consumption or the greatest savings potentials, users and visitors can already be effectively sensitized. Only with the necessary information are they enabled to actively engage in the energy balance of a building.

Successful Example: The Kaiser Hof in Cologne

As part of the "Smart City Cologne GO" funding project, aedifion developed a display concept for the Kaiser Hof in Cologne, which visually keeps users and visitors of the building informed about their energy consumption and emissions. As an additional benefit and incentive, the display includes individual tips on how consumption could be further reduced. This creates an intuitive incentive to use energy resources more consciously without much effort and with the help of technological support. It is important to provide the required data to the respective target groups in a well-structured manner. Asset managers need a dashboard that displays ESG metrics such as energy consumption, tenant satisfaction, and CO₂ emissions with benchmarks. For operational managers or facility management, a traffic light system should clearly indicate which systems they need to take care of. Visitors should be provided with simple and easily understandable consumption data.

Incentive Models in Ongoing Building Operations

Real-time feedback as motivation and reward: When users see the impact of their actions on a building's energy consumption in real time, it can serve as a strong motivation to alter their behavior in a way that reduces consumption. If these successes are also visible in real time, this method offers an immediate reward mechanism. The necessary data and information can be accurately captured and displayed using appropriate software solutions and building automation systems.

Motivation through incentive systems: Incentives can be created in different ways. In commercial buildings, both financial incentives and social recognition can motivate users to save energy. One example is the "corporate suggestion scheme" as part of a company's ideas management. Here, employees can submit suggestions for energy-saving improvements. The best strategies are rewarded with a bonus. Monetary rewards are often tied to the amount of savings, providing users with a sustained incentive. The more openly and directly the recognition and appreciation of behavioral changes are communicated, the greater the motivation.

Participatory decision-making: When users are involved in the decision-making processes of property owners through surveys or workshops, acceptance of changes typically increases, and individual responsibility of each individual is promoted. Users who participate in decisions regarding energy efficiency measures are more likely to support and accept these measures than if decisions are made without their input.

"Nudging" as low-threshold motivation for users: The German Company Network for Climate Protection describes motivational measures that operate without requiring financial or social recognition. With so-called "nudging," just a gentle "nudge" is enough to bring about a change in behavior. A simple example is the use of smiling or frowning emojis, familiar from speed checks in traffic. This concept can be effortlessly applied to energy-saving measures in buildings, such as ensuring doors are properly closed to save heating costs, or turning off lights in unused rooms. These actions are not enforced through prohibition or command, but rather through a subtle "nudge" in the right direction. This incentive works particularly well because it lacks punitive measures for non-compliance, thus easily avoiding the reactance described above.

Gamification: Gamification refers to the use of game mechanics to achieve goals. For instance, a quiz on sustainable behaviors can be much more effective than a traditional lecture with strict instructions. The strategy of gamification also relies on creating motivation through comparison. When users have the opportunity to anonymously compare their energy consumption with others, it can trigger a competitive spirit that motivates participants to achieve better results. This approach was validated in a pilot project in Sweden described by the German Economic Institute, where families managed to save up to 28.8 percent of energy over a specified period.

As Important as Participation: Correct Default Settings and Intelligent Automation

Making a one-time adjustment to default settings, such as mechanical or electrical adjustments to faucets and/or thermostats, is effective in the longterm without restricting user comfort.  

Even more effective is intelligent, predictive control of building systems. For example, aedifion.controls, an AI-based solution for operational optimization, takes over the control of a building's technical equipment and regulates it proactively and intelligently based on demand, weather forecasts, and occupancy. This ensures optimal operation over time, balancing economic efficiency, sustainability, and tenant satisfaction.