Design Challenge and Design Ideas

There are over 900 sustainable energy communities in Ireland, mostly led by volunteers, participating in a scheme administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). Enthusiasm brings them together, but many stall due to one of two common challenges: they’re held back by the complex process of developing an ‘Energy Master Plan (EMP), or they lose steam after finishing an EMP without a clear pathway to implement projects.

How might we co-design actionable pathways to decarbonisation to help move these communities from ‘plan’ to ‘do’?

‘From Plan to Do’ aimed to engage SECs from across Ireland, to deeply understand challenges and opportunities, and to co-design and prototype actions with one very special Dublin community.
Communities are complex, people bring different goals and objectives. We set out to demonstrate that service design methodologies including qualitative research, co-design, and prototyping, could keep communities at the centre – designing solutions for meaningful impact.

How the brief was fulfilled

Discovery Research with SECs
We conducted 12 interviews with diverse SECs, gathering insights from active and dormant, large and small communities nationwide.
An additional in-person discovery workshop with over 15 SECs from across Dublin, and observations from a project review with three North Inner City SECs, helped identify common challenges, and best practices.
Key insights from this research felt too valuable to keep secret, even at this early stage! They helped define a step-by-step process – “Find Your Fit, Find Your Focus, Find Your Flow” – to guide SECs once formed, and help them overcome barriers to action.
A prototype website, www.fromplantodo.ie, was established to share this process as a resource for SECs of all shapes and sizes across the country. This resource was even noticed by the SEAI, who are of course keen to ensure that SECs are supported in their efforts to decarbonise.

Co-Design & Prototyping with Connecting Cabra
We worked with the Connecting Cabra SEC to apply a service design approach as accessible community activities, documented to be shared later for other SECs to use.
For example, ‘Personas’ – a tool familiar to UX design professionals, became ‘Humans of Cabra’ – a way of thinking about unmet needs within the community. Later, a ‘co-design workshop’ became ‘Climate Chats & Chips’, bringing 15 renters together to develop and share energy-saving ideas for their rented homes. Participants created rapid prototypes of a renter’s guide with hand-drawn sketches, tips and advice.
Their work was then collected in a printed booklet which was tested just weeks later with the community during a sustainability festival in Dublin 7. Feedback from that festival event has helped refine the final booklet, proving prototyping as an effective way to get a big idea off the ground in a community setting.
This effort delivered a community co-designed, user-tested booklet to help SECs engage renters, a large demographic in the community, with tailored decarbonisation solutions. This entire group had previously been left mostly unreached.
“From Plan to Do” showcases the power of service design, specifically research, co-design, and prototyping in creating actionable, shareable, community-driven climate solutions.