Romania, part of the largest European research project on the optimization of energy consumption in homes

Romanian energy consumers are invited to participate, starting Thursday, in a European campaign that aims to determine the best ways to make electricity consumption more efficient in homes, through measures that do not involve costs, says a press release from the Romanian Energy Poverty Observatory (ORSE).

The campaign is being carried out through the European research project ENCHANT, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, and is taking place in six countries: Norway, Germany, Austria, Italy , Turkey and Romania.

In Romania, the project is implemented by the Center for the Study of Democracy, the initiator of ORSE, together with the Babeş-Bolyai University, the City Hall and the Local Council of Cluj-Napoca and the company Electrica Furnizare.

For the first time, the information collected about consumption will be modeled with the help of an innovative data interpretation system based on artificial intelligence, to produce public policy scenarios adapted to the reality on the ground and the diversity of situations, and not uniform support policies at national level , which do not take into account the specific needs of households.

The ENCHANT research project aims to support the energy transition and tries to understand the need and behavior of electricity consumption in European homes and what information households need to succeed in making their consumption more efficient.

The data is collected through a method established in medicine called Randomized Control Trail (RCT) and aims at the voluntary participation of households in experimental groups that test consumption behaviors. Science-based behavioral intervention techniques previously tested in laboratories are being tested in ENCHANT in real life, in an unprecedented large-scale effort targeting millions of European citizens.

The fact that consumers from six European countries participate in ENCHANT produces an immense opportunity for learning consumer behaviors in a variety of social, economic or cultural contexts, producing a broad base of public policy solutions, the release states.

“ENCHANT is a research project that tries to find out what could help Romanians to reduce their household energy consumption and what are the limits of this desired. The project is part of the wider initiative – Living Lab – of the Faculty of Political Sciences , Administrative and Communication from Babeş-Bolyai University, through which the effectiveness of some measures and public policies in communities is tested. The information coming from households will result in public policy solutions produced with the help of artificial intelligence, which will be applied to support household consumers at European, national or local level, taking into account the realities of households. The stakes of these things are important, as is the participation of consumers,” said Anca Sinea, researcher at Babeş-Bolyai University, ORSE coordinator and the campaign implemented in Romania.

The researcher also mentioned that, regarding the benefits for Romanian consumers who will participate in this exercise, in addition to the interesting information they can obtain regarding their own energy consumption, they will receive suggestions and recommendations on how they can save more energy in your own home, which, considering the current level of energy prices, can be a welcome thing.

Moreover, based on the findings that will be reached by aggregating all the data received from consumers, they will have the opportunity to influence European and national policies, by proposing public policy scenarios that are much more favorable to the situation of consumers.