Metering and feedback: how to tailor to context?

Metering and feedback help to make energy use visible and show how effective the changed behaviour has been. They help to reduce the following problems:

  • Invisibility of energy use
  • Lack of knowledge of one's own energy use
  • Lack of feedback on the effectiveness of actions

Metering and feedback are used particularly to influence routine and habitual energy behaviours, but they can also help your target group verify the actual impact of efficiency investments on later energy use.

What you need to do: 

To tailor feedback and metering to context, you need to:

* Understand the cultural and physical environment of your target group -> learn to know it
* Design metering and feedback systems on the basis of your target groups’ needs and practices-> learn to know them
* Make sure that feedback and metering actually gets your target group’s attention and helps them take action -> test to see if it works
* Consider providing information that allows your target group to compare their own performance with others
 
When does it work?: 
  • When understandable
  • When provided at the right time and frequency for your target group
  • When combined with other instruments such as advice and support for change

 

 

What do you need to look out for: 

► Make sure that you know what feedback systems already exist and how your scheme fits in with them.

► Make sure feedback is not too overloading.

► Make sure feedback is actually used.

 

Template / Checklist:

No Templates/Checklists refer to this tool.