Integrated water-energy advice

Regional Environmental Networks for Energy and Water, known as RENEW, was a programme run by Waterwise and the Energy Saving Trust with funding from LIFE+ (the financial instrument of the European Community), Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Scottish Government. Integrated water and energy advice was piloted over three years in Cardiff, London and Edinburgh. The programme was the first of its kind in Europe. Read more about it in the Life + RENEW section.

Why integrate water efficiency and energy efficiency advice? See our webpages on the Water-energy link and Hot Water and Energy.

Project activities promoted the water-energy link and the benefits to households who took action to save water to save energy. The effectiveness of different communications and marketing approaches to water efficiency were tested to see the effects, if any, on public awareness and behaviour. The projects also explored the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating water efficiency messaging into the methods commonly used by energy efficiency household engagement initiatives.

Perhaps not surprisingly, it was found that awareness of the link between water and energy was low could be increased, especially through the delivery of in-home advice. The full evaluation report is available here and the summary report here.

Findings were presented in 2011 in Paris at a workshop of the European Energy Network and in Brussels at a stakeholder dissemination event. An overview of the programme, including relevant messages for EU politicians, was published on page 73 of the March 2011 issue of Parliament Magazine.