MEnergie

The acceptance of various stakeholders is of crucial importance for the success of the energy transition. However, the social discourse is often very emotional and less fact-based. Therefore, the overarching goal of the MEnergie research project is to increase acceptance for the energy transition through effective, especially digital, communication formats and their participatory design. To this end, the project participants first determine the information needs of the key stakeholder groups. Generation Y" (born between 1980 and 1996) and "Generation Z" (born between 1997 and 2012) were identified as particularly relevant target groups. In addition, the researchers also consider real estate owners and citizens from low-income households as relevant stakeholder groups.

Based on the respective information needs – i.e. identified knowledge gaps - suitable media formats are then to be designed in a participatory manner in order to increase the willingness and competence of the individual stakeholder group to act. In order to achieve this, an interdisciplinary team consisting of scientists from the TH Köln (University of Applied Sciences), the Wuppertal Institute and developers from the Cologne-based company World of VR will work on the relevant issues for a period of three years. Within the project, the Wuppertal Institute is analysing the acceptance and discourse on the energy transition in social media.

The focus of the overall project is primarily on the development of an augmented reality application, which offers particularly high potential for new forms of learning and science communication due to its immersive character, but also the open-ended development of further communication formats in collaboration with students of the TH Köln (University of Applied Sciences).