Christmas greetings from ENCHANT’s project leader

Dear Enchanted people,

We are almost at the end of another year in the project’s lifetime, a year which has put energy on the map in new and troubling ways. With Russia’s war efforts escalating, and lower temperatures approaching, the consequences of energy deficiency will surely be felt even stronger. Energy supply, energy prices, and energy dependencies have more than perhaps ever before underlined the need for knowledge about how to facilitate for more energy-efficient lifestyles and enable a transition to renewable energy sources. ENCHANT is spread across Europe, and in the project, we have been able to see how some of the challenges are distributed across countries while others have had very different impact in the various countries.

2022 has been a year that project-wise has produced some technical hiccups, but also a lot of interesting results. ENCHANT’s general assembly on the 12th and 13th of December had a good turnup with more than 30 participants – and some very interesting discussions. With the presentation of each country’s interventions were also included the most relevant policy advises, scientific findings, as well as findings most important for the user partners.

For example, in the presentation of the Ninfa Gardens intervention, the role of trained guides in making a difference on people behaviour and choices were highlighted. Another finding was that people are more willing to contribute financially to sustainable initiatives if their contribution is aimed at achieving a concrete goal. In Electica Furnizare’s presentation, we were presented data showing how young customers are more prone to adopt pro-environmental actions, while customers between 45 and 54 years old are the ones for whom the financial impact of the decrease in consumption is more important. The massive numbers from the Izmir case are still being crunched but analyses so far indicate impressive effects of the intervention.

These examples illustrate that the project is on the right track in its aim to come out in the end with knowledge that is both contributing to the research front and method development, as well as being useful for segments in society represented by ENCHANT’s user partners. Policy recommendations will be our main concern when preparing to participate also in next years EUSEW.

With hopes for a peaceful end of the year for all, I wish you a Merry Christmas/happy holidays, and a happy and enchanted New Year. Stay safe and healthy.

Christian Klöckner
Coordinator of Enchant