Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

The service-learning project, “Energy Efficiency for Everyone,” was conducted during the academic year 2017-2018, in the context of four courses of the Energy Efficiency in Buildings within the Industry and Transport master’s program at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain. The project involved the cooperation of three social institutions (a nursing home, a children’s home and a home for disabled adults), two private companies and a University. This paper reviews the experience, which can be divided in three main stages: the auditing of buildings, the training of the users on energy efficiency, and a public defense evaluated by industrial experts, professors and students. The audit resulted in the assessment of the energy performance of the building, along with measures for improving it. As most measures would imply investing in the refurbishment of the building, training of the users was given as a complement to the technical work, with the aim of communicating simple measures that users of the building can implement for an efficient use of energy. The project concluded with six audits performed (two per building), three training sessions given to users (one per building) and two corrective measures implemented in the buildings. As per the corrective measures, which relate to the utility bills and the maintenance of the buildings, these have been already implemented by the social entities, who have reported important economic savings and satisfaction with them.