About AURORA
The AURORA project harnesses the collective power of technology and community engagement to address climate change and promote sustainable energy use. With two pivotal initiatives (the AURORA Energy Tracker App and the Aarhus Energy Community), AURORA is setting new standards in environmental stewardship and citizen science.
- AURORA Energy Tracker App: This mobile application empowers individuals to monitor and manage their carbon emissions by tracking energy consumption in different categories, including heating, electricity, and transportation. Available on both Android and iOS platforms, the app incorporates an innovative energy labelling system and user-friendly features designed to facilitate sustainable lifestyle choices.
- Aarhus Energy Community: In Aarhus, Denmark, AURORA has pioneered the establishment of an energy community where citizens can invest in and co-own solar energy installations. This initiative supports the green transition, while also offering a sustainable investment model for individuals, particularly those who might not have access to other forms of renewable energy investments.
Description of success
The AURORA project has achieved notable success through its forward-thinking initiatives:
- AURORA Energy Tracker App: The app's successful development and launch across Android and iOS platforms exemplify AURORA's mission to empower individuals with tools to track and reduce their carbon footprint. By integrating features like an energy labelling system and facilitating user engagement through co-creation workshops, the app has played a crucial role in promoting sustainable energy consumption patterns.
- Aarhus Energy Community: The establishment of the energy community in Aarhus, Denmark, as a solar cooperative association marks a significant milestone. The swift uptake of shares by the community within weeks of crowdfunding demonstrates the robust support and enthusiasm for community-led renewable energy projects. This initiative supports local investment in green energy, while also serving as a replicable model for sustainable community engagement in the green transition.
Highlights
- The AURORA Energy Tracker app is a testament to AURORA's commitment to leveraging technology for environmental sustainability. Its features, including an energy labelling system and tools for tracking energy consumption, represent a significant step forward in enabling individuals to monitor and reduce their carbon footprint.
- The Aarhus Energy Community initiative exemplifies AURORA's approach to fostering sustainable energy solutions through community engagement. The establishment of a solar cooperative association and the successful crowdfunding campaign for solar installations highlight the potential of collective action to contribute to the green transition.
- AURORA's emphasis on involving citizens in the development process, through methods such as innovation cafés and co-creation workshops, has been instrumental in ensuring the project's tools and initiatives are well-received and effective in promoting sustainable behaviours.
- The native development of the AURORA app for both major mobile platforms (Android and iOS) ensures an inclusive user experience, broadening the project's reach and impact.
Outputs
The AURORA Energy Tracker App is available to download from the Google Play and Apple App Stores, so that anyone can monitor their own environmental impact and make changes to improve it. This is an exciting milestone for the AURORA project and the app already has hundreds of downloads. Anonymous user data is being collected and displayed in an interactive dashboard, which will provide useful insights to AURORA developers, researchers and the general population.
The Aarhus Energy Community has been established in Denmark. The Community will construct a citizen-owned rooftop solar installation which will provide long-term benefits to locals and perhaps outlive the AURORA project itself.
Impact
The impact made by the AURORA project has been substantial. In particular, the AURORA Energy Tracker app has greatly contributed to empowering individuals, enabling them to actively monitor and manage their energy consumption and carbon footprint. This initiative aims to support at least 7 000 citizens in achieving near net-zero energy consumption, significantly contributing to sustainable living practices.
Moreover, the Aarhus Energy Community initiative exemplifies a successful model for community-led renewable energy projects, offering a sustainable investment model and promoting the adoption of solar energy.
These efforts are complemented by AURORA's commitment to making its business models and technological solutions open-source and adaptable, facilitating the replication of its approach in various contexts and regions.
Lessons
Feedback and user input played an integral role in the development of the Energy Tracker App and helped to push app features beyond the original scope of the project, leading to a more useful product. The app is available on both Apple and Google phones, which required programming and consideration for both platforms.
The Aarhus Energy Community demonstrated the power of involving citizens in the early development stages of such initiatives: citizens are more likely to take ownership of the project and feel invested in its activities. The establishment of the Community helped identify legislative barriers to the participation of universities in energy communities, and tax regulations that would require alterations in order to promote energy communities. In future, these can be considered from the early stages of Community set-up.
Other information
The Energy Tracker App was presented at the first African Citizen Science Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, in February 2024. Additionally, the AURORA team showcased the app at the United Nations Science Policy Business Forum in the same month, also in Nairobi.
The QR codes below can be scanned to download the Energy Tracker App from either the Apple or Google app stores.
AURORA has set up a Citizen Science Climate Change group on LinkedIn, ahead of COP28, to collaborate with citizen scientists and discuss how they can work together to encourage behaviour change and tackle climate change through energy communities.
