So tell me what you want, what you really, really want: including the user perspective before implementing measures of sustainability

1. 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
WSSD-U-2016 | MIT | 14.-16.09.2016
EnSign | User Perspective
hft-stuttgart.de

2. Example
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3. 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

5. What we do - RealLabor EnSign
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Energy Efficiency
Renewables Energies
Energy Management

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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)

10. 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

11. 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?

12. STEP 3
Evaluation of measures including the user perspective
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?

13. 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?