Energy saving in social housing: An innovative ICT service to improve the occupant behaviour

Abstract

The European Commission is supporting many projects in the field of energy saving, with the aim to improve inhabitants behavior and to help Europe to meet emission targets. The objective of the Balanced European Conservation Approach - ICT services for resource saving in social housing (BECA) Project is to enable consumption reduction of key resources in European Social Housing by providing usable ICT-based services for Resource Management and Resource Use Awareness, directly by tenants. The project is developing a range of ICT innovative services to be provided to the inhabitants of 7 different European cities: Örebro (Sweden), Manresa (Spain), Darmstadt (Germany), Torino (Italy), Havirov (Czech Republic), Ruse (Bulgaria), and Belgrade (Serbia). The ICT service will deliver to tenants information with direct timely and comprehensible feedback on the impact of their behavior on a full range of resource uses, thereby enabling tenants to save energy and water. This paper describes the project highlighting the adoption of ICT service in Torino and the initial results.