Following three creative years, the enCOMPASS project, in which participated the National Documentation Centre (EKT) implementing a number of important actions and initiatives to save energy, has come to an end. The aim of the project was to foster energy saving behaviour among users in public and private buildings, through the development of a user-friendly system that helps stakeholders understand power consumption data and facilitate optimal management.
Among the main goals of the project enCOMPASS, in which not only EKT but also the Centre For Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) and the Watt & Volt company participated, was raising the awareness of citizens in their homes, workers in their workplace and students and teachers in their schools to make conscious use of energy by changing their habits directly.
To this end, the enCOMPASS project developed digital systems and applications, providing advice, intelligent control for individual energy saving and various interactive approaches to educate people to effectively reduce their carbon footprint.
The FUNERGY game
One of these targeted actions was the creation of the FUNERGY game that increases the awareness of students on issues related to energy efficiency. It is a hybrid table and digital game, which aims to promote energy awareness and increase knowledge of energy efficiency among children and their families.
It took second place in the international competition Educational Games, which was held as part of the 13th European Conference on Games Based Learning. Entered in the Mixed Games category, it received many positive comments from the judges of the competition and the conference participants.
Through the FUNERGY game, the enCOMPASS project took the opportunity to highlight its work and that of other academics and game designers, some of which have expressed their interest in joining forces to develop new ideas and projects.
Throughout the duration of the project, ideas, results and activities were presented through publications in scientific journals and presentations at events for industry and the general public such as DACH + ‘Conference on Energy Informatics’ Salzburg, the ‘International Conference on Computer Vision Systems’ in Thessaloniki, September 2019, ‘Sustainable Places Conference’ in Cagliari, Sardinia and ‘European Sustainable Energy Week’ in Brussels, June 2019.
The project was completed with participation in the 20th ‘European Utility Week’ held from 12 to 14 November 2019 in Paris. The exhibition brought together more than 18,000 energy professionals and 800 companies to exchange knowledge and discuss the European strategy for low carbon consumption.
The final event took place in the EUW EU Project Zone, where the outcomes of the enCOMPASS project were presented and guests were able to confirm the added value of FUNERGY by actually playing the game themselves.
The final laboratory enCOMPASS held was during the ‘Consumer & The Digital Utility’ EUW hub session on November 12 2019, where the project leader Dr. Piero Fraternali, Professor at Polytechnic of Milan held the audience’s attention with his presentation entitled: ‘Data intelligence for consumer awareness and behavioural change’, answering subsequent audience questions on awareness and behaviour change.
The enCOMPASS consortium comprises the following organisations: Politecnico di Milano (PMI) as co-ordinator - Italy, European Institute for Participatory Media (EIPCM) - Germany, Stadtwerke Havfurt GmbH (SHF) – Germany, Centre for Research and Technology National Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) - Greece, Naturschutzbund (NABU) - Germany, Watt & Volt (WVT) - Greece, Societa Elettrica Sopracenerina (SES) - Switzerland, National Documentation Centre (ESF) - Greece, Scuola Universitaria Profesionale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) - Switzerland, Set Mobile SRL (SMOB) - Romania, Kaleidos Games (KAL) - Italy, Kaunas Univeristy of Technology, Social responsibility research centre (KTU) - Lithuania, Paradox AG (PDX) - Switzerland, Gravity R&D Zrt (GRA) - Hungary.
EKT was responsible for the pilot infrastructure of Athens. In this context, it supported the development and expanded use of the enCOMPASS platform. It promoted and extended the results of the implementation of the pilot infrastructure both internally and to visitors from the academic and business communities. At the same time, it implemented actions to raise awareness generally (events, e-notices and publications) and promoted energy consumption awareness within the government sector in Greece through the disclosure of enCOMPASS results.
