FAQ

The INDUCE project delivered a methodology for the implementation of capacity building programmes in energy efficiency based on a Human-Centered Design approach, leading to the ad-hoc design of training courses and interventions that align the motivation of involved actors with an energy efficiency culture.

The food and beverage (F&B) sector is the largest EU manufacturing sector in terms of turnover, value added and employment. Moreover, it is a major consumer of energy, i.e. the amount of energy necessary to cultivate, process, pack and bring the food to European citizens in 2013 represented about 26% of the EU’s final energy consumption. However, while the EU has made important progress in incorporating renewable energy and improving energy efficiency in other sectors, the share of renewables as well as energy efficiency in the food sector remains relatively small.

At the same time, with a world population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, many challenges will arise, including the need for a global increment in food supplies of 60% and a 45% increase in global energy demand.

Answering this question requires deep insights into the drivers and barriers in decision making processes regarding energy efficiency. While energy efficiency is not a company’s core business, benefits of making it ‘core to the business’ are considerable. There is a tendency to overestimate the influence of economic motives and to underestimate behavioural and organisation motives. However, revealing the impact of behavioural and organizational aspects simply requires a different methodological approach.

The INDUCE methodology treats each perspective as equally important. Based on a newly developed taxonomy of barriers to energy efficiency, a more explicit distinction of the origin, internal versus external, of these barriers is made. For the purpose of this project, the internal (within the firm) barriers are most relevant including: Economic (e.g. low capital availability, hidden costs, intervention relation costs); Behavioural (e.g. lack of interest in EE, other priorities, inertia, lack of sharing the objectives, imperfect evaluation criteria); Organisational (e.g. low status EE, divergent interests, complex decision chain, lack of time, lack of internal control); Competency related (e.g. identifying the energy inefficiencies, implementing interventions) and Awareness (lack of awareness or ignorance).

INDUCE increases the efficiency of capacity building programmes regarding behavioural and organizational change, which in turn facilitates actors to overcome other barriers, such as the transfer of knowledge to all the actors of involved companies in the field of energy efficiency. This means that the toolkits are not limited to be applied in the F&B industry but in some aspects consider specifics of this production sector. Still, you can contact us under project@induce2020.eu, sign up for our newsletter and we can start a dialogue of how to scale the methodology toolkit in another framework also to be used in other industries.

The INDUCE methodology stands for implementing ad-hoc training and interventions with the aim to include energy efficiency and sustainability in the policy and culture of the participating companies. The methodology and capacity building programmes designed were implemented in 15 companies following a Human-Centered Design approach, which ensures that the most relevant actors in the industry are involved and motivated from the very beginning of the project and thus a behaviour and organization change is more likely to happen within the project lifetime. All in all, the overall aims of these programmes include:

• To increase knowledge about energy efficiency measures and their benefits;
• To improve attitudes about the importance of energy efficiency measures;
• To build and strengthen skills related to efficient energy or environmental management;
• To achieve an energy-efficient behaviour; and
• To tailor courses to the organizational culture.

INDUCE developed and validated a methodology for the implementation of ad-hoc training courses and interventions that align the motivation of the involved actors (employees and decision-makers) with an energy efficiency culture. The methodology and capacity building programmes designed were implemented in 15 companies following a Human-Centered Design approach, which ensures that the most relevant actors in the industry are involved and motivated from the very beginning of the project and thus a behaviour and organisational change is more likely to happen within the project lifetime.

INDUCE empowers companies to achieve an organisational change. For this purpose, the INDUCE methodology mimics the eight critical steps developed in the well-known theory of John P. Kotter’s including:

1) Establishing a sense of urgency, through assessing the company’s current energy consumption and comparing it with other companies of the sector;

2) Forming a powerful guiding coalition, by involving CEO commitment and establishing a “change agent” or “change team” in the company;

3) Creating a vision, together with stakeholders of the higher management;

4) Communicating the vision, through workshops and internal communication channels;

5) Empowering others to act on the vision, by increasing their capabilities on energy efficiency;

6) Planning for and create short-term wins, making use of interventions for determining and implementing the best opportunities for energy savings;

7) Consolidating improvements, producing more change, integrating energy into the company culture;

8) Institutionalising new approaches and connecting new behaviours with corporate success.

Technical, cultural, behavioural and organisational aspects were taken into account when designing the INDUCE method. The training courses are tailored to the companies’ needs when it comes to structure and duration. In any case, these training courses follow a three levels structure aimed at different staff within the company:

1. Co-creation sessions and introductory lessons for highest-level positions:

Involvement of the highest-level positions in the company is crucial for achieving a behavioural and cultural change towards energy efficiency. Therefore, this level is focussed on with face-to-face meetings with decision-makers and corporate board members, who are involved through short interviews and surveys to assess their needs and expectations as well as to gather general data in an interactive way.

DURATION: 5 hours

2. Specific training for middle managers:

The second level is aimed towards middle managers whose decisions might have an important influence on the overall energy consumption of the company. In addition to behavioural, cultural and organisational issues, these actors identified in the previous step are trained on energy efficiency issues in general through blended learning. Thus, first, a significant part of the training consists of topics like motivating employees to support energy efficiency measures and how to communicate energy efficiency issues within the company, while a second part trains them about energy audits, energy management, energy efficiency in thermal and electrical processes and energy monitoring systems.

DURATION: 15 hours

3. Interactive workshops employees of all levels:

Finally, workshops on energy efficiency are carried out for general employees in order to reach all the stakeholders in the company.

DURATION: 5 hours every 10 participants

Energy experts and industrial representatives were selected to be trainers of the INDUCE methodology. This together with the multiplier effect of industrial associations and National Agencies involved directly as partners or indirectly through letters of supports ensures a high replication potential and the commercialization of the results after the project’s end. By the end of the project, the INDUCE capacity building programme has trained 60 people in the INDUCE methodology. Certified trainers joined the INDUCE community of trainers in order to gather and share information about energy efficiency measures and behavioural and organisational changes.

If you are interested in signing up to become member of the INDUCE community, get more information under energyefficiency.com and attend a workshop in your country. See more under induce2020.eu/events

We keep our project website updated, but you can also subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest project news and follow us on twitter @INDUCE_2020