Work packages

WP1

Project Management

This work package encompasses the general management activities conducted to guarantee that the project meets its time plan, budget and quality requirements.

Its objectives involve the following tasks:

  • Ensure efficient management and co-ordination of all project activities.
  • Stimulate and support communication among project partners and between different work packages.
  • Ensure good communication to key stakeholders, especially with the Experts Advisory Board (EAB), whose aim will be to guide the progress of the project.
  • Secure the realisation of project goals on time and a timely management of the project budget.
  • Quality control and progress monitoring.
  • Risk management.
  • Financial and administrative management of the project.
  • Ensure compliance with all ethics requirements.
  • Communication with and reporting to the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (EASME) and to the European Commission (EC).

WP2

Selection of New Societal Trends and Quantification of Impacts on Energy Demand

This work package encompasses a process of selecting clusters of New Societal Trends which are in further work packages integrated into the relevant demand side models for quantitative analysis.

Its objectives involve the following tasks:

  • Selection of (energy-relevant) trend clusters and detailed trends and establish their relevance for energy demand.
  • Quantification of empirical data on New Societal Trends and their impacts on energy consumption.

WP3

Transition Pathways for New Societal Trends and Methodological Improvement in Modelling such Trends

This work package develops quantitative transition pathways for the New Societal Trends, including their macro- economic impacts, based on the existing demand-side models in the project team (run 1). From this, we derive a gap analysis, which will then guide further model developments and the focus analysis in WP5-7. In a second round, the quantitative transition pathways are refined and macro-economic implications evaluated (run 2).

Its objectives involve the following tasks:

  • Definition of transition pathways and scenarios for energy-relevant New Societal Trends, covering the building sector, industry and transport.
  • Gap analysis for the quantitative modelling of New Societal Trends (methodological limitations, data limitations and short/long-term model improvements).
  • Macro-economic impacts of New Societal Trends and policies to encounter energy demand increasing drivers in those trends.

WP4

Policy needs and policy analysis for Influencing Energy Demand Arising from New Societal Trends

This work package analyses policies which can enhance the demand decreasing trends of New Societal Trends (“linking New Societal Trends and the Energy Efficiency First Principle”) and strengthen the ability to model relevant policies in demand-side models.

Its objectives involve the following tasks:

  • Provide an assessment of energy demand-side policies and instruments at European level with major impacts on New Societal Trends as well as of policies policy instruments targeting large-scale behavioural changes.
  • Carry out an in-depth assessment of demand-side models in how far they are able to quantify energy demand-side policies impacting on New Societal Trends.
  • Provide recommendations for better design of energy-demand modelling to appropriately represent such New Societal Trends.

WP5

Focus Study: Prosumagers and big data (new data sources) in energy demand models related to the built environment

While WP2-3 were striving to develop a comprehensive view on New Societal Trends through a quantitative modelling approach, WP5 deals with the first of three Focus Studies which dive deeper into the quantitative modelling aspects. The objective of this work package is to substantially enhance energy demand modelling in the context of the built environment regarding the transition of consumers to prosumagers* and to integrate for that purpose new data sources (such as data obtained from smart meters in residential buildings). In this way, energy demand models will be better capable in responding to policy needs.

Its objectives involve the following tasks:

  • New empirical and statistical basis for prosumager modelling.
  • Modelling prosumagers and Energy Communities: prosumager behaviour in bottom-up demand models.
  • From consumers to prosumagers: modelling household choices and their active participation in the energy market.
  • Demonstrate the new methods and model developments by modelling policy cases.

*We use the yet less common word “prosumager” in contrast to “prosumer”. A prosumager is a “prosumer” who consumes and produces energy (notably from PV) and who has made additional investments in distributed storage, usually in the form of batteries. It further includes connotations of “manager”, which includes also notions of managing demand response, participation in electricity trading etc. For the sake of simplicity, we use the term prosumager and prosumers as synonyms in the text or the proposal.

WP6

Focus Study: Circular economy and digitalisation in energy demand models related to the sectors industry and tertiary

This work package deals with the impact of a circular low-carbon industry and tertiary digitalisation on energy demand and CO2 emissions and how these trends can be represented in demand models.

Its objectives involve the following tasks:

  • Modelling the impact of circular economy (CE) for deep decarbonisation of the industry sector.
  • Modelling the impact of digitalisation and new market trends in the tertiary sector on energy demand and energy- efficiency potentials.
  • Improving the modelling of selected CE-action and digitalisation policies in the tertiary and industry sector.

WP7

Focus Study: New Societal Trends in Transport and Tertiary Sector – The Impact of the Shared Economy

This work package is the third of three focus studies related to New Societal Trends and analyses the impact of the shared economy in transport and in the tertiary sector on energy demand in the EU.

Its objectives involve the following tasks:

  • Improve the understanding of the relationship between new trends in transport and in the tertiary sector -most notably the sharing economy- and energy consumption/energy efficiency.
  • Deepen the empirical basis for modelling the Shared Economy.
  • Enhance current modelling techniques of travel demand and exploring new ways to deal with the modelling of New Societal Trends of the transport sector and the tertiary sector.

WP8

Dissemination and Communication

This work package covers dissemination and communication activities which aim to ensure the broad uptake of the project results by the stakeholders (in particular policymakers, expert community, civil society), as well as provide evidence-based contribution to the EU-wide and national public debates on the energy efficiency policies.

Its objectives involve the following tasks:

  • Ensuring stakeholder engagement and two-way communication throughout the project.
  • Contributing to policy discussions with the key insights emerging from the enhanced modelling approaches to energy efficiency.
  • Informing the scientific and expert community about the methodological advances and resulting novel results in the area of energy efficiency modelling and energy policy assessment.
  • Building online and media presence of the project.