Energy coaches are the sustainable superheroes

How can we learn from each other's knowledge to contribute to the energy transition? This question was the focus of the workshop "Empower your community through energy coaching" at THUAS last week. The Center of Expertise Mission Zero is involved in three projects: Dwarsdoorsnedestraat of Duurzaam Duinoord, Reduction of Energy Use Agnetapark of Platform energietransitie Delft, and within the Municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg of Energy Common Leidschendam-Voorburg. 

Scaling up energy coaches is a ''must''

Sander Mertens, director of the Center of Expertise and Professor Energy in Transition, opened the afternoon with the message, "At Mission Zero we strive to connect various parties with a lot of knowledge in the field of energy transition. It is essential that we learn from each other and can share our knowledge, because you don't do it alone."

We see that it revolves around four major disciplines: technology, economics, support and legislation, where we must strive to find common ground.

Arjen Kapteijns, councilor for Energy Transition, Mobility and Raw Materials Municipality of The Hague, was also present and named the energy coaches as the sustainable superheroes, with the ambition to scale up the number of energy coaches to 500. In addition, the aforementioned projects presented their findings, followed by an interactive question session for the participants. During this session, Jelle de Jong of Duurzaam Duinoord emphasized the importance of playful actions in the neighborhood, such as the Green Saint who went past the doors. Even the most reluctant people cannot say no to "Isolation Pete" and the "Green Santa. According to Jelle, the energy coach acts as a catalyst for ambassadorship within the neighborhood.

Students at work with 'The Consumption Champion'

Students from Leiden University shared the results of their six-month research on energy coaches in The Hague, recommending their measurement tool "De Verbruikskampioen. Student Rosella explains, "This measurement tool, a tool in Excel, calculates the impact of the house with certain implementations related to behavior."

Interactive Participation and Content Discussions

Between presentations, attendees had the opportunity to answer questions via Mentimeter. One of the questions was, "What are the biggest challenges within energy coaching projects?" With over 70 answers, we got a good idea of the challenges within the projects.

During the table workshops, participants talked about these challenges and discussed questions such as: What collaborations are needed to move forward? and What knowledge is missing that research can contribute to? Each group then presented their findings, after which the afternoon concluded with drinks.