Towards an Energy Social Network: Lessons Learned from Gamification as On-board Engagement Tool for Energy Communities in Domestic Units

Abstract

As a compromised solution between the unavoidable presence of technology and the need to promote more sustainable consumption, different gamification apps about energy have been developed over the past years. In addition to this, the following paper shares the lessons learned from the development of an on-board engagement service, rooted in the sustainable consumption (SC) gamification and social network concept. Through challenges and social networking, occupants are enabled to learn about their domestic energy consumption patterns and engage toward a more sustainable one. The service designed mainly as a mobile app, has been shaped and improved through a series of testing and continuous feedback from actual users belonging to the new user-centric energy communities – the core of an Horizon2020 project called ReDream. Therefore, the service represents the means of the ReDream on-boarding engagement strategy and as such has been tested in four different communities: Italy, Croatia, the UK, and Spain. Thus, the service is validated as a flexible tool promoting engagement and education regarding sustainable energy consumption in different social environments. Consequently, the introduced service has been shown to lower the barrier and involve people, covering the emerging need for a “pre-onboarding” environment, friendly and secure.