The Biggest Saver energy saving competition for Espoon Asunnot properties

Down a Degree – to ensure energy for us all

Down a Degree is the national government’s joint energy saving campaign to which we have subscribed as a partner. As part of campaign activities, we will be organising a competition entitled The Biggest Saver for our properties. The winning properties will win great prizes for improving their premises.

More information about the national Down a Degree campaign

Everyone’s contribution will be needed in the energy saving efforts, because the high price of energy and possible availability issues will impact all of our daily lives this coming winter.

The Biggest Saver energy saving competition for our properties

In the competition, Espoon Asunnot properties will compete against each other to see which of them can reduce heat and electricity consumption the most from the same period the previous year. The competition period is 1 November 2022–30 April 2023. The competition includes two categories: heat and electricity.

The three biggest savers in each category will win great cash prizes to be used to improve the comfort of their premises. On this page, we will be publishing updates on the leading properties in each category during the competition period.

The competition category for heat

This category involves properties competing to see which can reduce its heating costs the most compared to the corresponding period the previous year. The energy savings will be calculated as the consumption difference in kilowatt hours between the reference period 1 November 2021–30 April 2022 and the competition period 1 November 2022–30 April 2023.

The rules are simple

1. The category does not require registration

All properties completed before 1 November 2021 are automatically included in the competition. Separate registration is not required. Each property’s consumption between the competition period 1 November 2022–30 April 2023 and the reference period 1 November 2021–30 April 2022 will be compared. Every resident can contribute to ensuring that their property is the biggest saver.

Our newest properties that have been completed before 1 November 2021 cannot participate in the competition due to the lack of details on the reference heating period. That said, even these properties should make a joint effort to save energy. Every individual action helps to ensure that there will be enough energy to go around in the coming winter.

2. How we will determine the winner

For each property, we will calculate the saved kilowatt hours (kWh) based on normalised heat consumption per cubic metre. Normalisation refers to adjusting the consumption according to weather, since the changing weather conditions through the seasons impact the heating needs and energy consumption of buildings even without any changes to energy efficiency and consumption habits.

The winner will be the property that saves the largest percentage of energy.

Espoon Asunnot’s average district heat rate per kilowatt hour will be used as a coefficient in the calculation.

Selecting the winners in the heat category

The winners of the competition will be selected in May–June, once the competition period 1 November 2022–30 April 2023 has ended. The winners will be determined based on energy saved.

3. We will award prizes to the three biggest savers in the category

The property must use the prize money to improve its living comfort. The details of the usage will be decided in a residents’ meeting in which all residents of the property can take part.

1st place: the property will receive the full calculated savings
2nd place: the property will receive two-thirds of the calculated savings
3rd place: the property will receive one-third of the calculated savings

The competition category for electricity

This category involves properties competing to see which can reduce its electricity consumption the most compared to the corresponding period in the previous year. The energy savings will be calculated as the consumption difference in kilowatt hours between the reference period 1 November 2021–30 April 2022 and the competition period 1 November 2022–30 April 2023. The winner will be the property that saves the largest percentage of energy.

The rules are simple

1. The category does not require registration

All properties completed before 1 November 2021 are automatically included in the competition. Separate registration is not required. Each property’s consumption between the competition period 1 November 2022–30 April 2023 and the reference period 1 November 2021–30 April 2022 will be compared. Every resident can contribute to ensuring that their property is the biggest saver.

Our newest properties that have been completed before 1 November 2021 cannot participate in the competition due to the lack of details on the reference heating period. That said, even these properties should make a joint effort to save energy. Every individual action helps to ensure that there will be enough energy to go around in the coming winter.

2. How we will determine the winner

Since the electricity category will consider each property’s total electricity consumption, the saving measures taken by each resident in their own home will significantly impact the end result.

The electricity distribution company Caruna will provide us with aggregate reports on property-specific electricity consumption. The aggregate reports will include electricity consumed by the residents, but we will not have access to the consumption data of individual housing units.

Selecting the winners in the electricity category

The winners of the competition will be selected in May–June, once the competition period 1 November 2022–30 April 2023 has ended. The winners will be determined based on energy saved.

3. We will award prizes to the three biggest savers in the category

The property must use the prize money to improve its living comfort. The details of the usage will be decided in a residents’ meeting in which all residents of the property can take part.

1st place: the property will receive €3,000
2nd place: the property will receive €2,000
3rd place: the property will receive €1,000

Gather tips and post your own ideas on social media

We will be sharing useful energy saving tips through all of our communication channels, including social media. Now, if ever, is the time to start following us on Facebook and Instagram, gather the tips for later use and share some of your own ideas.

Energy saving tips for households are also available on the Motiva website.

Thank you for taking part in our energy saving efforts!

Our own measures regarding the energy saving efforts

We will be reducing the indoor temperatures of housing units by 0.5 degrees and the temperature of our office by 1 degree.

Lowering indoor temperature moderately is often a straightforward way of saving energy and money. This is why we have set as our goal to drop the heating of our properties by 0.5 degrees. However, all adjustments will be made in a controlled manner, and the measures will particularly focus on properties that are found to be outside the target variation range for indoor temperatures (19–22 degrees). The new target temperature for housing units is 20.5 degrees, with a permitted variation range of 1.5 degrees.

Moreover, the temperatures in almost all of our housing is controlled by the Fortum SmartLiving artificial intelligence system. It enables us to find individual cold or excessively warm housing units in properties and make the necessary adjustments to temperatures and conditions. Read more about the Fortum SmartLiving system (in Finnish).

Espoon Asunnot’s office will be reducing its temperature by one degree to the new target temperature of 20 degrees.

Water-saving water fixtures

We have equipped some of our properties with water-saving fixtures and will continue to do so in the future.

Harmonising communal sauna times (“lenkkisauna”)

We will be harmonising communal sauna times by shortening the reservations that are several hours long. In the future, communal sauna reservations in our smaller properties will be 1 hour for women and 1 hour for men each week. For our larger properties, the residents’ committees may, if they so desire, reserve 2 hours for women and 2 hours for men per week. The residents’ committees may choose the time of communal sauna reservations or the reservations can be cancelled entirely.

Extensive inspections of common areas

We will be conducting extensive inspections of the common areas of our properties to ensure energy efficiency. We have identified tasks in the maintenance programme to which the maintenance must pay special attention.

For example, the following must be inspected, tested and, if necessary, adjusted and serviced:

supply and extraction devices of the property’s ventilation
fresh air valves of common areas and technical rooms
electrical outlets for heating cars in parking areas
light-sensitive switches and timer switches
electric floor heating of common areas and technical rooms.

Sauna usage must also be organised in such a way there are always consecutive reservations for at least three hours in a row.

We share energy saving tips

We actively publish tips related to saving energy through our website and social media channels.