3rd WORLD SYMPOSIUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

AT UNIVERSITIES 14-16 September 2016

So tell me what you want, what you really, really want:

Including the user perspective before implementing

measures of sustainability

Thomas Bäumer & Stefan Zimmermann HFT Stuttgart (Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences), Germany

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hft-stuttgart.de

Example

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Agenda

1. Who we are and what we do

2. Relevance of User-Behavior

3. Case Study: Implementing Sustainability Measures

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Key characteristics HFT

• Founded in 1832

• 3 faculties, 14 Bachelor and 14

Master programs

• About 4,000 students, 125

professors, 400 part-time

lecturers and 100 academic

researchers

• Campus contains 9 buildings

directly in the center of

Stuttgart

Who we are – Tradition and Innovation

What we do - RealLabor EnSign

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Energy Efficiency

Renewables Energies

Energy Management

Relevance of User Behavior

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Energy Efficiency

Passive users should become active participants, who carry on

the idea of "climate neutrality” as multipliers (“spill-over effect”).

Renewables Energies

Energy Management

Wellbeing

User Behavior

We need to understand the positive and negative impact of user

behavior on the energy consumption of buildings.

Procedural Fairness

• “Fair-process-effect” (Folger 1977)

Perception of an individual that a certain process is fair has an impact

of the evaluation of the outcome.

• How can we render a process fair?

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Making the process of the implementation of sustainability

measures fairer should result in more positive perceptions of and

behaviors towards the implemented measures.

The opportunity to state ones’ own opinion. Voicing ones’ own

ideas and attitudes, regardless whether this leads to the desired

outcome or not, makes people see a process as more fair.

Case Study Implementing Sustainability Measures

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STEP 1

Identification of the

relevant areas for

sustainability goals

STEP 2

Identification of potential measures

to reduce energy consumption

(selection of planned measures)

STEP 3 Evaluation of measures from the user perspective

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Winter semester 2015/2016 (Nov.-Jan.), Duration: 30 to 60 minutes

Semi structured (qualitative) interviews

• “Voice-factor”

• Little knowledge concerning the environmental attitudes and

behavior of staff within the organization

• Comparable and open to individual input

Sample

• N=13 interviews (about 15% of all staff in these two buildings)

• 6 females and 7 males, 4 professors and 9 other employees

• Participants from each floor

Selected Results

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As long as the user behaves counter productive and as long as the user is not aware […] we will not reduce energy consumption.

A good idea, but…

…it takes to much effort to program it.

…it is too expensive.

…it reacts too slowly.

…I would have to look after it all the time.

…does it work properly?

STEP 3 Evaluation of measures including the user perspective

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?

Conclusion

• Give users a “voice” (participation)

• Take seriously note of their concerns and include them in the

decision making and implementation process

User integration is good, because…

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… it leads to more acceptance towards the

implemented sustainability measures.

… it has a positive impact towards

sustainability as a whole.

Important to achieve

the predicted savings.

Potential for attitude change

and “spill-over effects”.

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Thank you! thomas.baeumer@hft-stuttgart.de

stefan.zimmermann2@hft-stuttgart.de

…your questions?