Antwerp Circular South - engaging the community in an online and offline circular economy

The City of Antwerp, like most European cities, is challenged by the way its energy is produced and consumed. Most of the energy consumed in Antwerp is produced externally, making it highly dependent on fossil fuels. This, coupled with residents’ energy behaviours that do not pace their energy (heat, electricity, and water) consumption – lead to tremendous energy waste. Transforming production and consumption patterns, as well as adopting a circular approach would drastically change technical and sociological approaches to this issue. One incentive to change behaviours and live a circular lifestyle was the use of a reward system, via a virtual currency, the Circule. Another approach has been to invite residents to take part in an Energy Community.

Circules[1]:

Residents could earn Circules (1 circule=0.001 EUR) by performing well on individual and group challenges encouraging sustainable behaviour. Circules were combined with a series of other activities implemented during the project to make this virtual currency effective: a nudging mechanism via several challenges, applied through an app, using a Blockchain technology (a form of technology that registers and controls transactions and makes the transactions traceable and publicly available), which needed specific procedures for data treatment (storage and processing).

Energy cooperative:

In parallel, the Energy Community invited residents to produce and consume their own energy, thereby testing new governance mechanisms and higher control over the energy supply chain.

[1] https://magazine.antwerpen.be/circulair-zuid_en_2018-2021/technology-virtual-rewards-system

Circules[1]:

The residents made use of the reward system through an app specifically designed within the scope of this project - the Circular South app. The reward system was encouraging residents who implemented specific behavioural changes and would award them with a virtual token, Circules, available and exchangeable via the app. Virtual tokens were granted based on performance vis-a-vis individual challenges (a certain goal would be set for the user to attain in order to get a reward e.g. 10% lower water consumption than the previous month), group targets (the challenge would be defined for a group of people e.g. saving a thousand litres of water together) and trigger challenges (where a user would be rewarded for performing an action, e.g. attending an information session or visiting the neighbourhood compost heap). Performance was measured on the basis of consumption profiling and data used for the analysis was measured via smart meters. 

The blockchain system, used for the Circules, was composed of functionalities such as challenge builder, wallet admin, the Application Programming Interfaces on the Ethereum platform (a software platform built on blockchain technology). A Smart contract system - a protocol that is automatically executed if specific criteria are met, was also used. Specific data treatment related to storage and processing, information flow and integration of Antwerpen A-profile – available to all local residents through an A-Card which enables the use of some public services, getting some rewards and access to social benefits - to enable citizens to log in easily and securely, had to be designed.

Circules could be used at the City of Antwerp‘s facilities (e.g. swimming pool, cultural events, Ecohouse). They could be exchanged for using these facilities or re-inserted into the reward system.

The project used the existing Antwerp loyalty system (A-card) – available to all local residents - which already provided a spectrum of spending options. In addition, a « shop » for collective rewards was designed and was made available (e.g. people could purchase a picnic box, customised city visit, or attend a workshop at CIRCUIT – the project’s circular economy shop, neighbourhood get-together). After the EUI project, the Circules have stopped being in use.

Circules[1]:

The first step was to design the blockchain and application, corresponding to the background modalities and interface to actually use the Circules. Development of the blockchain was the responsibility of Digipolis - City of Antwerp’s own IT company, one of the partners of the project – and the City of Antwerp, the Application that of EnergiED. In particular, the dashboard of the app was co-created with residents who expressed the ways in which they wanted to interact with the information and what they wanted to learn from it. Residents’ suggestions were used in the final proposal. The workshop served as a group-binding moment for the residents and for some of them it was an opportunity to sign up to the project.

The second step, though more in parallel, was to design the activities which would enable to earn the Circules. These were part of nudging experiments designed and implemented by IMEC – one of the research partners of the project.

The third step was to define who could be generating the Circules, i.e. who would be granting them: the City of Antwerp invited residents to benefit from smart meters to enable the monitoring of energy consumption at home.

The fourth step was to identify “burners”, places where Circules could be used: the City of Antwerp identified its own services (e.g. swimming pool, cultural events, Ecohouse). The partner De Kringwinkel which was in charge of CIRCUIT – the circular economy hub tested and then built during the project – also offered workshop participation paid by Circules.

Last but not least, the launch of the nudging experiments such as lowering energy by 10%, monitoring of the practical and technical use of the Circules was coordinated by the City of Antwerp, with all the above-mentioned partners in charge of their own area of competences.

In addition to these steps, other partners from the project worked to design the blockchain or the app.

Energy cooperative[2]:

The Energy Community was overall led and designed by EcoPower. They first sought to identify the best legal framework that would enable both producing, storing, using but also selling the electricity produced by the PVs located on the newly built buildings.

They then worked closely with the City of Antwerp and Vito/EnergyVille to identify the best solutions for installing the Photovoltaic Panels (PVs) which would generate the electricity for the cooperative’s grid.

It then worked closely with the City of Antwerp and Pantopicon to boost the interest of residents to take part in the cooperative. In particular, the Energy Community was promoted via “Energy cafes”: informal gatherings with debates and drinks which provided general information about the Energy Community as well as exchanges on other energy related issues, which could bring residents together (e.g. on electric car sharing possibilities). Participants also co-created the modalities of the cooperative and participated in its management once the energy system was up and running.

[1] Antwerp Circular South Zoom-In 2: “What if you could see how much energy you consume at home and that you could change it?” | Portico

[2] Antwerp Circular South Zoom-In 2: “What if you could see how much energy you consume at home and that you could change it?” | Portico; Antwerp Circular South Journal 5: Last Mile and Wrapping Up | Portico; Making the most of solar energy in the new residential area of Antwerp Circular South (3rd Zoom-In) | Portico

Circules:

The implementation of such a solution can be easy depending on the level of IT awareness and whether or not there is an availability of existing mechanisms. For example, the City of Antwerp has its own IT company – Digipolis – which is experienced in those matters. The City also possesses a card (the A-card) that centralises access to local activities. These factors were of significance for the development and use of the Circules. Already existing access to data is also of importance. The use of data from energy providers was to a certain extent made easier – as smart meters were used. However, access to water consumption data was more difficult due to constraints with the water management company.

Energy cooperative:

As for the Energy Community, interested municipalities need strong partners with experience in the legal, financial and economic schemes behind such a process. It is simple if municipalities can access to such knowledge and experience, more difficult if they have to start from scratch.

Intended scope/reach of the IFSs

The planned targets of the project were:

• Engagement of 200 local residents in experimentations
• Energy cooperative set up with 80 members
• 6 nudging experimentations carried out

Initial upfront investment & funding sources

Circules:

Designing Circules meant using the UIA funding to invest in social, technical and technological design.

A total of € 2,853,557.50 was invested which includes:

• Staff costs
  • User profiling, managing and evaluation of the nudging experiments
  • Implementation of data streams, business logic waste and reward and exchange system.
  • Installation coordination of the smart apartment infrastructure, defining and implementing a system for virtual partitioning of the battery and the PV systems, and defining and implementing business logic for energy and smart contracts.
  • Development of the dashboard (incl. co-creation) and blockchain application, the integration in the A-profile and the involvement in the notification.
  • Baseline monitoring, integration of data and evaluation of the waste nudging experiments
  • Public procurement for the data platform components.
  • Public Procurement for the smart meters
• Investment costs
  • Circular South Data platform
  • Smart apartment devices.

Energy cooperative:

Similarly, the Energy Community required investing in human resources for design and co-creation. In parallel, the project invested in the purchase and installation of the (BI)PVs.

A total of € 1,344,750.00 was invested which includes:

• Staff costs
  • Establishment, member recruitment and management of the energy cooperative
  • Definition of requirements for the procurement of the energy system component
• Investment costs
  • Shared energy system (PVs)

In addition to these, € 360,413.00 were used for transversal community engagement activities.

The budget breakdown for the two IFS is summarised in the table below.

Circules[1]:

The City of Antwerp made available a budget of 5,000 euros from its own internal budget to purchase the rewards and thereby make the Circules operational. For accounting purpose, a euro value was given to each circule, yet it was not displayed officially. The other costs were integrated in the overall UIA budget.

Energy cooperative[2]:

The Energy Community works within an energy grid system: the energy produced by PVs that is not consumed within the building is injected into the grid, creating benefits for the Community’s members. The resulting financial benefits are shared amongst the Energy Community members. It is estimated that the yearly profit from the installed PVs is 5,000 euros. The functioning costs are part of the investment costs. No extra costs occurred to members or coordinators.

Governance structures and partners required/involved

Circules:

The Circules themselves were the final responsibility of the City of Antwerp. Yet, as explained above, all of the project partners took part in the design of the solution, be it for data treatment (Digipolis, Vito EnergyVille), smart meters design and installation (City of Antwerp), app design (EnergieID), nudging experiments (IMEC), usage of the Circules (De Kringwinkel).

Of the three different sorts of blockchain systems—public, private and consortium—the project chose a consortium system. This way, all project partners would be able to execute and approve transactions. Approvals were made via a proof-of-authority algorithm.

Energy cooperative:

For the Energy Community, the overall leadership, conceptualisation and coordination was the responsibility at first of EcoPower. Now, that the Community is running, EcoPower is coordinating the process and members are co-investors and owners of the PVs - installed during the project. They also decide on the interests and priorities to use the profits generated by the Energy Community: e.g. greening the neighbourhood, installing a wind turbine, etc. The first spending of the group was for example for a bicycle repair and wash place.

Ecopower will be renting the roofs for the PVs for the Energy Community for 20 years. Then, the ownership will move from the Community to the building owners – when the role of Ecopower can be further assessed.

[1] Antwerp Circular South Journal 3: Half-Way Through State Of The Art | Portico

[2] Making the most of solar energy in the new residential area of Antwerp Circular South (3rd Zoom-In) | Portico

• A strong and high-quality partnership, combining soft and technical skills, for successful online and offline experience;
• UIA financial support was key not only to finance the solutions but more importantly to test and experiment them.
• For the development of Circules: availability of data and analytics
• For the Energy Community: strong knowledge and expertise of Ecopower.

The main objective of Antwerp Circular South was to make “sustainability” mainstream. This was highly supported by local politicians and embedded in the city’s New Climate Action Plan. In the New South, the project benefitted from a large proportion of new residents aware of the issues at stake as well as with the wish to start a new life with new (good) habits. Because this new area was built to be affluent, the residents had also virtually limited financial risks related to their participation in the project.

• Covid-19 pandemic which made it difficult to raise awareness about the project and as such to recruit interested residents for the nudging experiments and usage of the Circules, as well as to promote the Energy Community. The mitigation strategy was to organise a series of targeted online meetings and encounters (e-peritives, Nudging experiment webinar), and later on - small-scale activities outdoors (ruilaperitief’); and,
• Newly built area and delays in completion: the critical mass of residents was not achieved, which made it difficult to reach a sufficient number of participants. This was solved by increasing the geographical scope for the implementation of the project (e.g. PVs installed outside New South).

• Circules:
  Designing the right tender specifications in order to procure the blockchain design to the most suitable company. It was even more challenging that the project wanted to support an innovative start-up. Research and several drafts made it possible to reach a successful tender.

• Working with a variety of partners, each with their own KPIs, made the work extremely complex – an issue that was overcame with strong coordination and reporting.
• Identifying meaningful and circular ways to spend the Circules. This implied identifying new partners to collaborate with (the “burners” - see above).
   

• Energy cooperative:
  The constantly evolving legislation for Energy cooperatives, making such energy communities still an experimentation: in terms of production and consumption of energy, as well as governance and wider impact on neighbourhoods. Adequate coordination and expertise have proven key.

• Procuring and installing PVs, which would then fit into the Energy Community grid system - in terms of availability of products and companies on the market, as well as reliability of the producers. The solution was to launch several procurement procedures with increased market dialogue and to install the PVs outside the New South.
• Explaining the added value of the project when the financial return would be quite low (estimated discounts on the energy consumption of the general parts of the buildings, and 5,000 euros for all the Energy Community members to be invested in community projects). Investing in the Energy Community was also a risk: residents would have difficulties understanding the business model, the potential economic return – potential limited profit, lack of existing and visible information, lack of distance yet.  Even if the potential members were informed, they still needed to take responsibilities in signing a contract, potentially quite long with a piece of juridical and technical information that would be out of their individual expertise and knowledge. The solution was the repetitive explanations and cafes to discuss the details of the model.[1]

   

  [1] Making the most of solar energy in the new residential area of Antwerp Circular South (3rd Zoom-In) | Portico

Circules:

The residents who used the Circules were overall satisfied with them, for example[1]:

• They could see directly on the app their consumption and found the graphs insightful
• They appreciated the nudges (notifications and tips) in terms of quantity and quality
• They like the mascot, CEZAAR, who communicated about consumption levels
• They wanted more explanation about the reasons to change their energy consumption patterns for a particular timeslot (e.g. why it made sense from a sustainable viewpoint to use their washing machine only between 11h and 15h, when most energy was available).

The Circules were used by the 39 participants of the nudging experiments. The water experiment, for example, and the use of Circules, resulted in a 10% decrease of water usage, with an increased awareness of energy & water usage. In terms of electricity experiment, 3% of the 29 participants reduced their electricity consumption by 10% compared to a reference week before the experiment (29 participants) for 4 weeks; 17% managed to decrease for 3 weeks out of 4; 38% managed to decrease for 2 weeks out of 4; 21% managed to decrease for 1 week out of 4.

Also, 26% of the 27 participants of another experiment shifted their electricity consumption to hours when green energy is the highest, so that the electricity consumption during evening peak hours decreases by 15%.

Energy cooperative:

The 1766 Photovoltaic Panels - PVs - installed over 4 sites on a total surface area of ​​no less than 3,640 m produce 537,000 kWh per year, or the annual electricity consumption of 150 families. This corresponds to a saving of 190 tons of CO² per year. The 4 sites covered were all part of the UIA Antwerp Circular South Project, even if only 2 were installed in New South district – for above-mentioned reasons of lack of available roofs due to delays in construction and lack of residents’ interest.[2]

[1] Antwerp Circular South Zoom-In 2: “What if you could see how much energy you consume at home and that you could change it?” | Portico; Antwerp Circular South Journal 5: Last Mile and Wrapping Up | Portico; Last UIA Antwerp Circular South Journal: Circularity as a new framework for cities | Portico

[2] Antwerp Circular South Journal 5: Last Mile and Wrapping Up | Portico; Antwerp Circular South Journal 4: Well into the project, but far enough? | Portico; Making the most of solar energy in the new residential area of Antwerp Circular South (3rd Zoom-In) | Portico

Circules:

The Circules have been successful in providing an incentive to raise awareness and change the habits of some residents of New South. The overall impact on the entire neighbourhood is limited, but it provides the ground for a methodology to be developed at a larger scale to support the transition towards more sustainable practices.

Energy cooperative:

The Energy Community has been very effective in developing new governance models and in raising awareness and control over own energy supply. The targets were reached as planned. However, ultimately, very few activities were funded with the profits made by the PVs.

Reflection on the effectiveness/impact in enabling innovation

Overall, municipalities struggle with long decision-making cycles, tendering rules and complex structures, which make it difficult to move forward quickly. Working in such a partnership with clear delegations with ongoing collaboration made the process more resilient. Many learnings in terms of working practices, public procurement schemes, creative solutions came out of this project.

In terms of Circules, the three-year period appeared too short to achieve all the planned innovations. With the end of the project also came an end to the use of the virtual coins since app technology evolves quickly and new investments are necessary. At the same time, innovation was possible for the Energy Community due to patience and need to navigate in the current legislation.

Circules:

The Circules are no longer in use and there is no plan for such use by the City of Antwerp. Yet, the technology and solutions now exist and can be used by the partners. For example, EnergieID, made the app available for all interested Belgian resident.

The methodology itself was used in the H2020 WaysTUP! project for measuring behaviour change for biowaste sorting among households.

Energy cooperative:

With the end of the Antwerp Circular South project meaning end of resources of EcoPower, the Energy Community closed with 150 households.

The 20-year renting contracts enabled the investment in the solar installations that were established during the project and followed up by Ecopower’s operations department. The Energy Community has not been continued per se, as it was an object of the Antwerp Circular South project. Yet, the collaboration with the municipality and its inhabitants has been continued through the SCCALE 203050 project: their interventions have been tested in collaboration with the city of Antwerp (i.e. participation in a public renovation market, advice on energy monitoring for individual households, conversations on energy sharing and energy communities that the city plans to work out versus the cooperative approach).

Now that this project has also come to an end, EcoPower is looking for ways to maintain this connection with the municipality and its inhabitants. In this process EcoPower concluded that maintaining a neighbourhood group without a specific plan (no concrete projects) does not work. Therefore, EcoPower will aim at collaborating directly with the municipality on projects where neighbourhoods are temporarily involved neighbourhoods when concrete projects come into the picture.

Circules:

As a concept, and though not in use anymore, Circules could be scaled up – especially in order to get a wider range of users. This would also entail looking for an increasing number of burners.

Energy cooperative:

The model of Energy cooperative can be upscaled to a certain extent. Yet, energy cooperatives tend to be limited in size in order to keep democratic governance and transparency. Scaling a cooperative would entail creating a new one.

Circules:

Circules can be applied for any other reward system related, for example, to other consumption practices: food, clothing, mobility, etc. The main challenge will not be the use of Circules themselves, nor the blockchain, but the monitoring of data that actually enables this reward.

New technologies could also look into making the Circules available as a payment method with shops, energy suppliers and within the community.

Energy cooperative:

Beyond Circular South, the concept can be used in other communities. The EU Renewables Directive and the EU Electricity Directive and the Flemish translation of this create Energy Communities of Citizens and Renewable Energy Communities, in which Ecopower fits. In addition, as part of the SCCALE 20 30 50 project, Ecopower continued the search for an adequate way to involve and bring together members and interested citizens in communities. Based on the Circular South learnings, it seeks to develop ways to engage with neighbourhoods in the context of local solar and wind projects, from the preparation phase to construction and exploitation, based on a variety of methods and approaches.

Within this project, no other funds than UIA was used to develop and maintain the solutions. Yet, currently, in the after UIA life, the app – through which the Circules were earned – as well as the Energy Community, have a life of their own, with their own business models.

Like many other projects born by municipalities, decision-making cycles can be long and complex, with the need to delegate to private partners to carry out some activities. Other interested cities should not isolate the technical (blockchain) part from its implementation (actual needs of the project).

Also, projects are short – 3 years - to maximise the time of the project and make it more efficient, municipalities should not start from scratch. They should capitalise on previous experiences, cross-pollinate, and exchange knowledge with other municipalities and relevant stakeholders.

For the project to succeed and to later expand to the entire city, Municipalities need commitment from all city administrators and on the political level:

• the project team should be assembled with various city services.
• all services should be involved in the drafting of the project plan.
• The project coordinator should keep on communicating throughout the project and make links with other city projects.

The success of such initiatives goes through an intense communication to reach out the variety of target audience (old and young, prosperous and less prosperous, consciously sustainable and less interested all) with adjusted messages:

• Offline via flyers, posters, information kits, presentations and signs
• Online via websites, newsletters, social media
• With short interactive films, conferences.

Circules[1]:

Cities considering implementing an IFS similar to Circules should:

• follow the principles of blockchain technology to ensure protection of their data.
• ensure an adequate abstraction layer to make the blockchain technology agnostic.
• make sure that their rewarding system is not counterproductive towards the achievement of behaviour change goals: People should in first place be intrinsically driven to reduce waste or lower their energy consumption, and a block-chain reward system could be supportive in it.
• Specifically related to GDPR:
  • Need to start envisaging GDPR-related issues of the project, earlier. Solutions exists, but they are complex, and the legislation is not always clear;
  • A specific budget should be dedicated to it; and,
  • Differentiating between public-good, related projects and consent-based projects.

Energy cooperative[2]:

Cities considering implementing an energy cooperative should:

• adopt a flexible timing, especially if taking place in a newly built area, because of on-going delays in constructions, moves of the residents, legal constraints etc.

• mobilise Real Estate Promoters and Residents as soon as possible in the design to ensure buy-in
• develop an integrated approach because of the interlacing of social, economic, technological and legal contexts
• provide extra incentives for residents to join as such an Energy Community when they have already invested in energy efficient and newly built apartment and se limited financial and practical interest in joining such a scheme
• influence changes in the context: provide evidence for economic added value, designing a convincing narrative, etc. This might in turn support the transposition of the Directive on common rules for the internal market for electricity (EU) 2019/944) at regional level, as for now, stakeholders are concluding that the business case for solar energy on apartment buildings is not there yet.

In terms of behaviour change (for both these IFSs)[3]

• residents need to be part of a community, a movement so that they can learn about potential changes and support each other through this experience
• give the community enough space and freedom to co-create and grow organically
• promoting change in energy consumption demands permanent incentives and ready-for-use projects or instruments with which residents can easily start working
• focus on concrete actions and initiatives that are easy to implement and with immediate (e.g. financial) results

three and a half years is a short timespan: make sure that essential project elements, such as the solar panels, are already present when you start. It will ensure visibility and resident buy-in and convincing.

[1]Antwerp Circular South Zoom-In 2: “What if you could see how much energy you consume at home and that you could change it?” | Portico; Last UIA Antwerp Circular South Journal: Circularity as a new framework for cities | Portico

[2] Last UIA Antwerp Circular South Journal: Circularity as a new framework for cities | Portico

[3] Last UIA Antwerp Circular South Journal: Circularity as a new framework for cities | Portico; Making the most of solar energy in the new residential area of Antwerp Circular South (3rd Zoom-In) | Portico

• Technology/Virtual rewards system - Circulair Zuid_EN_2018-2021
• What did we learn from Circular South - Circulair Zuid_EN_2018-2021 
• Structure of the Population | Statbel
• Antwerp Circular South Journal 3: Half-Way Through State Of The Art | Portico
• Antwerp Circular South Journal 5: Last Mile and Wrapping Up | Portico
• Antwerp Circular South Journal 4: Well into the project, but far enough? | Portico 
• Antwerp Circular South Zoom-In 2: “What if you could see how much energy you consume at home and that you could change it?” | Portico
• Last UIA Antwerp Circular South Journal: Circularity as a new framework for cities | Portico
• Making the most of solar energy in the new residential area of Antwerp Circular South (3rd Zoom-In) | Portico
• UIA Antwerp Circular South Application Form, Internal document, made available by UIA Permanent Secretariat