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Castlemaine 500
In 2006, the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance (CVGA) secured Victorian Government support to fund a behaviour change program that would test – “by engaging a significant proportion of a township in household energy reduction – whether major savings could be achieved and measured at the regional level.” The objective was to get 500 households to commit to a long-term process that required active participation and input to achieve a 15 to 30% reduction in household energy consumption.
Castlemaine 500 was the project and used a participatory evaluation process that was built into the project from the beginning. In the report we draw on evidence from a number of evaluation methods used throughout the life of the project.
Behaviour targeted
Any behaviour that resulted in consumption of household energy (gas or electricity) - eg. Heating the home
Target Group
500 'households' (and the people living in them) in the Castlemaine area
Methodology and tools
1. Most Significant Change (MSC) Stories - participatory; 2. Semi Structured Interviews; 3. Online Surveys 4. Telephone surveys 5. Data sets collected and analysed from various power companies
Key Findings
1. The capacity of local leaders increased 2. C500 left behind a legacy and local action continued after the project team's departure 3. Many participants reported many changes in their behaviour ... however ... 4. The participating households did not demonstrate any significant reduction in energy consumption when compared to the regional population AND ... 5.C500 failed to collect enough reliable electricity/gas consumption data from households or power companies 6. C500 failed to reach 500 households
Key Lessons
1. Work with anyone who 'shows up' and is keen ... don't exclude people based on demographics 2. Recruit by installing free Smart Meters in all participating households - this would have provided accurate, real time data so we could 'sense' what was working as the project unfolded 3. Engaged local people to run more of the project earlier on - locals can engage far more effectively than outsiders 4. Use "Social Network Mapping" at the outset to identify links between participants and assist with recruitment and ongoing engagement
Name
Geoff Brown
geoff@tangentconsulting.com.au
Website
http://www.myhomemyplanet.org.au/
Outside of IF 8
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