Considerable challenges remain today regarding Europe´s transition towards a decarbonised energy system that meets the economic and social needs of its citizens. Rebound effects, that is, a full or partial cancelling-out of efficiency gains over time through increased overall energy use, highlight the centrality of consumption in multi-scalar decarbonisation efforts, urgently requiring attention from scientists and policy makers. Calls also abound for innovative, research-led programmes to enhance the social acceptability of energy transition measures that involve new technologies.

Save@work is a European Union funded (H2020) initiative which helps public buildings reduce their energy consumption and carbon emissions in nine countries. GreenDependent Institute is one of the partners in the international consortium coordinating the energy saving efforts of civil servants. Altogether there are 18 buildings participating in the friendly competition in Hungary with almost 1900 employees from all around the country. The competition officially started on 1 March, so GreenDependent held the Starting Event on 11 February in Budapest, where we invited the Energy Teams – groups of the most enthusiastic employees in each building – and leaders of the participating institutions.

GreenDependent experts József Szlezák and Edina Vadovics co-authored of the energy efficiency country report on Hungary prepared within the framework of the European EUFORIE (Europen Futures for Energy Efficiency, Horizont2020) project. The report provides a summary of household (and community) energy efficiency through providing information on the level of awareness of households, reviewing relevant legislation, actions as well as various public, private and community initiatives. In relation to the latter the report lists and provides basic information on initiatives by companies, entreprises and nonprofit organizations, and also mentions research projects and alternative energy future scenarios.

The GreenDependent team held the Hungarian Citizen Vision Workshop on 9 January 2016 in Budapest with the participation of 36 citizens from all over the country. The English language report - including the six visions created - is available on the CIMULACT website.