Researcher from Porto leads European project to design an energy-saving App

The Systems and Computer Engineering Institute of Porto (INESC TEC) leads the European Project which aims to develop a mobile application that helps users save power by changing some of their daily habits.

The FEEdBACk project, supported by the European Commission with a budget of 2.3 million euros, in collaboration with researchers from seven countries, is working to incentivise more efficient power production through behavioural changes. In a first phase these will be minor changes in daily habits that can mean significant energy saving, both at home and at the workplace.

"An example is that when people working in an office go to lunch they don't turn off the computer monitor, and if there is an alert system, this can foster behavioural changes", the project manager stated.

This technology will be tested in three countries, namely in Portugal (INESC TEC building), in Spain (several buildings at El Prat, in Barcelona) and in Germany (residential area in Lippe).

There will also be awareness raising campaigns to help promote behavioural change on social media and in the project website.