Page 33 - European Energy Innovation - Summer 2015 publication

Summer 2015 European Energy Innovation 33
CIVIS:
cities as drivers of social change
CIVIS rises from the
consideration that
energy may be turned
into a good that
people can consume, generate
and allocate on the basis of their
needs, preferences and values. The
project explores the potential of
social networks and communities
to reduce energy use and carbon
emissions. It will achieve this
by deploying and testing an IT
platform that enables a new, smart
model of energy management for
individuals and communities.
CIVIS uses an experiment-driven
R&D approach that involves four
pilot neighbourhoods, two of
which are located in Italy (Trento) for understanding market and
and two in Sweden (Stockholm).
Project partners will test and
evaluate the technology, clarify
business potential and estimate
the impact of anticipated
deployment on a European scale.
CIVIS FIRST YEAR OF LIFE:
NURTURING THE IDEA OF A
SOCIALLY SMART GRID
The Socially Smart Grid concept,
which depicts the eco-system
of values, technologies and
dynamics supported by the CIVIS
platform, has been devised to
support the implementation
of actions in the project’s pilot
sites. These activities have been
designed in close collaboration
with local energy companies,
citizens groups and local
administrations in order to
capitalise on existing local energy
needs and fit existing cultural and
social values.
To enable the data loop required
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
for CIVIS Platform, consortium
partners have been busy in
implementing a complex sensor
and communication infrastructure
for the flow of energy data.
Moreover, in order to get a
clearer picture of the local social innovative forms of combining the
dynamics and cultural values,
project partners have developed
a Simulation Model of Integrated
Energy System and organised
focus-groups and workshop
sessions with local stakeholders
and citizens.
Beyond the understanding of
local infrastructural and societal
environments, CIVIS partners
also worked at a higher level
regulatory barriers standing in
the way of renewable energy
innovations.
THE BEST HAS YET TO COME!
The forthcoming months will
see prosumers and consumers
For more information:
E-mail: info@civisproject.eu
Website: www.civisproject.eu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CIVISproject
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CIVISproject
COMMUNICATION
engaging with CIVIS Platform,
while CIVIS partners will work for
the identification of new business
models that can support the
emergence of new forms of social
innovation connected to energy,
new opportunities given by ICT
with energy efficiency and fresh
ways of being neighbours.
CIVIS CONSORTIUM AND INFO
Co-financed by the European
Commission within the seventh
framework for scientific research,
CIVIS is run by an international
consortium coordinated by
the University of Trento and
composed of 11 partners: Aalto
University, Enel Foundation, KTH
- Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, TNO, Imperial College
London, Instituto Superior
Técnico, TU Delft, Santer Reply
SpA, Create–Net, KIT - Karlsruhe
Institute of Technology, and Bruno
Kessler Foundation (IT). l