co2online gemeinnützige GmbH is a non-profit limited liability company campaigning to reduce emissions of the climate-threatening gas carbon dioxide (CO₂). Our central approach is: climate protection by means of energy saving through dialogue. With online advisers, energy savings accounts, municipal heating surveys and a climate quiz as well as portal partners from business, media and politics, co2online motivates private households, trade and commerce to become actively involved in climate protection – and to save money at the same time. co2online informs and motivates mainly on technical modernisation measures for heating and thermal insulation in existing buildings and on early replacement of inefficient appliances. Our three largest projects are co-funded by the German Federal Environment Ministry.

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Kyoto-Protocol: Trigger for the Campaign
co2online’s campaign helps fulfil obligations taken on by Europe and Germany in 1997: In Kyoto, Japan, 150 countries agreed to the "Kyoto Protocol". For industrialised states the Protocol requires to reduce their emissions of CO₂, methane and other greenhouse gases by 5.2 % below 1990 levels until 2012. The European Union must reduce emissions by 8 % and the USA by 7 %. The "Kyoto Protocol" came into force on February, 16th 2005.

Climate Protection Campaign
Our "Climate Seeks Protection" campaign motivates consumers to check on and invest in energy efficiency of their homes and appliances. Its main components are online advisers, prize competitions and media campaigns (see below). It is co-funded by the German Federal Environment Ministry since 2004.

Online Advisers
14 different Online Advisers offer quick and competent advice on various aspects of room heating, energy saving modernisation measures, grants and on various aspects of electricity saving as well. Thus far, more than 700 partners have integrated the Online Advisers into their own web sites – including ZDF German Television, the online property marketplace Immobilienscout24, DZ-Bank and E.ON. The Online Advisers are consulted by 10-15,000 people each week, depending on the season. Over 2,900,000 online consultations have been completed since 2004 and more than 1,90,000 tons of CO₂ have been reduced because of the actions that followed the consultations.

Heating Check in English, use postal code 1234. Data adapted for Germany.

PumpsCheck in English on UK, use postal code CB2 4RG

Cooling Check

BestPractice Archive

The Energy Savings Club
Detect the effect: The Energy Savings Club is the first campaign that provides continuous support for consumers and their energy saving efforts at www.energiesparclub.de. The objective is to win over 100.000 users who reduce their energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the long term. The Energy Savings Club is co-funded within Germany’s Climate Initiative by the Federal Ministry for the Environment.

Energy Savings Account
The interactive Energy Savings Account (iESA) gathers and displays consumption data on fuel, electricity, and water, entered either manually or automatically. It also shows future costs (depending on users’ price expectations) and connects to the Online Advisers to help lower these costs. Over 10,000 users opened an account since August 2006. They get personalised feedback in monthly email-newsletters (e.g. "your fuel consumption is average, but electricity way worse than average, so why don’t you check your circulation pump?") and aggregate data is analysed statistically by co2online. It is co-funded by the German Federal Environment Ministry for 2009/2010.

Media Campaigns
co2online cooperates nationwide with radio, television and print media but does not buy advertisement. The "ZDF.umwelt" programme and co2online recently ran the fifth "champion energy saver" competition, this year targeted at school classes. Ten winners who demonstrably saved on energy as well as on CO₂  received 50,000 Euro in total.
Germany’s oldest polar research ship, the "Grönland", will sail the North Sea under "No CO₂" sails again in 2009. The message aboard is "protect climate – get active". Visitors are informed about sustainable usage of energy in several ports of call.

Municipal Heating Surveys and Written Heating Assessments
In 45 more German cities – adding to Aachen, Dortmund, Dresden and Munich, 34 in total since 2004 -, Municipal Heating Surveys (Heizspiegel) will raise awareness of reasonable heating costs and heat consumption in centrally heated residential buildings in 2009/2010. Smaller communities, tenants associations and consumer initiatives can order flyers with a Nationwide Heating Survey at no charge. Anyone checking the Heizspiegel-flyer’s tables who thinks he or she may be using too much energy or paying too much, can request a 12-page Written Heating Assessment (Heizgutachten). Together with local authorities and other partners, co2online introduces these Municipal Heating Surveys to the public at regional media events. The project is co-funded by the German Federal Environment Ministry for 2009/2010.

Climate Protection Partners
Climate protection partners motivate, inform and give the people in their area a better understanding of climate protection matters. Partners can be MPs in state, federal or European parliaments, for example. Visitors to their internet sites are presented with the Online Advisers as a first step towards climate protection and money saving.

Online Climate Quiz "Mission Blue Planet"
The Climate Quiz "Mission Blue Planet" presents information and answers to over 1,000 questions, for three age groups between 7 and 17, on the subjects climate, energy saving, and weather. The users explore the links between energy generation, energy consumption, weather and climate and the consequences of climate change. Two editions of more than 50,000 CD-ROMs in total have been distributed. A slightly different online version allows to challenge others by email to compete on knowledge and speed and even to ask for a rematch.

Awards
2009: The "champion energy saver" competition has been awarded the recognition as an "Official German Project for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development", a worldwide initiative by the UNESCO which is implemented in Germany with the support of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the patronage of the German Federal President Horst Köhler.
2008: The "Clean Tech Media Award", Germany's first environmental media award, was awarded to co2online in the category "sustainability". The award was presented for the website content, the online advisers and the extensive networking.
2008: The tour of the "Grönland" has been named one of 365 "Landmarks in the Land of Ideas 2008", an initiative by the German government and commerce and industry under the patronage of the German Federal President Horst Köhler.
2007: Dr. Johannes Hengstenberg, co2online’s founder, was selected an Ashoka Fellow as “social entrepreneur” (someone who reaches societal goals with business tools).
2007: co2online won the Sustainable Energy Europe Award in the category "Awareness Raiser". The Award for the "Climate Seeks Protection" campaign and its online tools, adaptable all over Europe, was presented for an outstanding contribution to reaching Europe’s energy targets.
2006: The Giga-Maus 2006 Award for the best online offer for "secondary school level" was given to co2online’s free online climate quiz "Mission Blue Planet"; The Giga-Maus was awarded during the Frankfurt Book Fair and is a widely respected endorsement for quality software for children and families.

Evaluation
Impact analyses of 4 Online Advisers (Heating, Building Modernisation; Cooling Appliances, Pumps) and of the written heating assessments showed that more than 3.5 million tons of CO₂ will be avoided over the expected lifetime of these investments. The costs of these tools add up to about 1 Euro per ton of CO₂ avoided. The calculations were validated by Wuppertal Institute.
In addition, co2online quarterly publishes a "climate barometer". By means of online surveys, it determines the public sentiment on and interest in energy prices, security of energy supply and climate protection.

co2online in Europe
First projects outside Germany were started in fall 2006 because of growing interest in Online Advisers from Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, UK, Netherlands and Poland. Since the Advisers were financed in Germany, local funding is only required for translation and adaptation. Potential national partners, preferably also non-profit, are welcome to inquire about details.

Download Flyer "Save money and the climate - with the Energy Saving Online Advisers of co2online"