project title: getting energy reduction on agendas in ... · page 1 of 28 project title: getting...

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Project Title: Getting Energy Reduction on Agendas in Industrial

Manufacturing Operations

Acronym: GERONIMO

Grant Agreement Number: EIE/07/220/SI2.466709

Deliverable D5.3- GERONIMO Best Practice Manual

Associated WP Work Package 5- Deployment, Evaluation, Best Practice

Associated Task Task 4 – Extraction and Documentation of Best Practice

Due Date September 30st 2009

Date Delivered October 2009

Prepared by

(Lead Partner)

Iberian Productivity and Innovation Centre

Partners

Involved

All partners

Dissemination

Level

PU

GERONIMO D5.3 Best Practice Manual

© European Communities, 2009

The information and views set out in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the

official opinion of the European Communities. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person

acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.


The European Dairy Energy Portal

www.dairyenergy.eu

Project Best Practice

Manual

Supported by:


Project Coordinator

Project Partners

Supported by:

Project Title: Getting Energy Reduction on Agendas in Industrial

Manufacturing Operations

Acronym: GERONIMO

Grant Agreement Number: EIE/07/220/SI2.466709

Table of Contents

Executive Summary .......................................................................................................... 1

1. GERONIMO- some background .............................................................................. 2

1.1 GERONIMO in a nutshell ...................................................................................... 2

1.2 The thinking behind GERONIMO- why dairy farmers? ........................................ 2

1.3 Key barriers faced ................................................................................................... 3

1.4 The GERONIMO methodology ............................................................................. 4

2. The GERONIMO success- results and impacts ........................................................... 4

2.1 The result- GERONIMO Portal www.dairyenergy.eu ........................................... 4

2.2 The impact- the hard facts ...................................................................................... 5

2.2.1 Generating Awareness among the target group ............................................... 6

2.2.2 What did the GERONIMO users have to say about the portal? ...................... 7

2.2.3 The real impact- converting intentions into action ........................................ 14

2.2.4 European recognition ..................................................................................... 16

2.3 Lasting impact- GERONIMO post project ........................................................... 17

3. Lessons we can share with you............................................................................... 17

3.1 Make your target group the starting point ............................................................ 17

3.2 Maximise the potential of your project website ............................................... 19

3.3- Addressing multilingual and multicultural challenges ........................................ 20

3.4 Effectively pitching your message ....................................................................... 20

3.5 Keeping up the good work ................................................................................... 20

3.5 Some tips on project management ........................................................................ 21

4. Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 22

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Executive Summary

This manual is intended to document the best practice extracted from the

GERONIMO1 Project, which aimed to bring small and medium sized enterprises from

the European dairy farming sector into the energy equation and empower them to

become more efficient in its use.

The overall aim of this Best Practice Manual is to communicate the key success factors

and learning curves that the project consortium has drawn from developing and

managing the GERONIMO project. It is envisaged that the lessons learned from

GERONIMO can be used by future project consortiums undertaking similar initiatives,

not only in the field of energy efficiency and the dairy industry but in other sectors as

well.

In order to assist the consortium in identifying and extracting Best Practice from

GERONIMO, a series of input sources were used, which included:

Feedback provided by the users of the GERONIMO Portal- a comprehensive

evaluation campaign was undertaken at the end of the project in which we

evaluated the usefulness of the portal and the success of the initiative from the

users’ perspective.

Feedback extracted from the online comments and feedback form that has been

available to users of the GERONIMO website since its launch, so that they can

submit open comments to the webmaster.

Input given by the consortium partners and other key stakeholders (farmers,

expert panel members, etc).

The Best Practice Manual is available for widespread dissemination in order to enrich

the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme and to spread the word on the key success

factors and lessons that can be transferred from GERONIMO and applied by other

project consortia in the future.

An electronic version of this manual can be found on the GERONIMO Portal, under the

Project Materials section.

1 GERONIMO is the acronym for Getting Energy Reduction ON Agendas in Industrial Manufacturing

Operations


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1. GERONIMO- some background

1.1 GERONIMO in a nutshell

The GERONIMO project, which was supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe

Programme, has centred on bringing European dairy farmers into the energy equation

by breaking down the time, resource and knowledge barriers that are currently blocking

them from becoming more energy efficient on their farms, or from tapping into

renewable energy opportunities.

Over the course of 25 months (Oct. 2007-Oct. 2009), the GERONIMO consortium has

built a web-based platform to provide dairy SMEs with ready access to the relevant

information technology, tools and financial support that will help them to reduce their

on-farm energy consumption. Since its launch in November 2008, this website has

justifiably become the 1st European Dairy Energy portal and to date has secured over

730,000 visitors and has a growing member base of 1300 registered members consisting

of dairy farmers, dairy associations, energy experts, academics and agricultural students,

as well as equipment manufacturers/services providers and other users.

1.2 The thinking behind GERONIMO- why dairy farmers?

Industry accounts for some 28% of all energy consumed within Europe. When one

considers that 99% of businesses in the European Union are small and medium-sized

enterprises2, their role in energy efficiency and reduction needs to be carefully

addressed. Collectively, SMEs are major players in energy consumption and as such

they should be stimulated and empowered to become equally major players in energy

efficiency.

Yet, the reality for the majority of SMEs is that their core business, and its

development, requires such a lot of financial resources and effort, leaving the incentive

or motivation to invest in energy savings as small. In addition to a lack of motivation,

potential barriers to energy efficiency stem from the fact that a small enterprise might

not have the time, the energy or the skill and knowledge2 to take even initial steps

towards efficient energy management.

In few sectors are the opportunities and challenges of effectively addressing energy

more pronounced that the farming industry, and in particular the Dairy Industry, which

in Europe is highly SME intensive.

2 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/index_en.htm


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Dairy farms are significant consumers of energy in their everyday operations, for

running equipment such as water heaters, milk coolers, vacuum pumps, lighting,

irrigation pumps, feeding systems and ventilation. The rising cost of energy is hitting

the farming industry hard. Short term, these rising energy costs pose another challenge

for struggling small dairy farmers, long term, the industry's opportunity is to adjust to

the rising prices by finding ways to use less energy and by becoming part of the energy

production mechanism through solar and wind power, or energy produced from manure,

etc.

Opportunities for significant energy savings exist, which provide dairymen with a

plethora of options to better control their energy costs. For example, adding a variable

speed drive (VSD) to a vacuum pump will reduce energy use by 50% or more, with no

loss of milking system performance. Although not all options for energy savings

available are this dramatic, their cumulative impact can help improve dairy farm

profitability, and contribute to a healthier environment and increased sustainability.

In this context, GERONIMO set out with the aim of supporting a sector that generally

lacks the time, resources and knowledge to tap into energy saving opportunities - the

dairy farming SMEs across Europe.

1.3 Key barriers faced

One of the main barriers preventing dairy farmers from placing energy efficiency on

their agendas is the severe limitation on their already stretched time and resources.

In the face of many problems directly related to their core activities, such as falling milk

prices, the threat of diseases among the herd (mastitis, bovine lameness, outbreaks of

foot and mouth, etc.), which can have crippling economic consequences for small and

medium sized dairy farmers, the issues of energy efficiency and renewable energy

sources could feature low on the list of priority and superseded by more pressing

challenges.

Moreover, despite the further burden that fluctuating oil and conventional energy costs

place on energy intensive dairy farming operations, the time, resource, information and

knowledge gaps are often too large for them to take even initial steps towards efficient

energy management.

A key challenge facing the GERONIMO project was how to bridge these gaps in order

to assist SME dairy farmers from across the new Enlarged Europe to take sustainable

steps in reducing their dependency on fossil fuels by become more energy efficient on

the one hand, and by tapping into the promising opportunities offered by renewable

sources of energy, on the other.


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Only once a reasonable solution is in place to support dairy farmers in embracing

energy efficiency, will it make sense to generate awareness among the industry about

the benefits and relevance of energy efficiency for European dairy farmers and to

mobilise farmers into placing energy efficiency on their agendas. Little does it serve to

argue the already obvious benefits, when SMEs have no realistic means of action.

1.4 The GERONIMO methodology

The aim of GERONIMO was to overcome the above identified barriers preventing

European dairy farmers from playing a much needed role in the sustainable energy

equation by bridging time, resource, information and knowledge gaps by placing energy

efficiency information, technology, tools (calculators, audit tools, management, etc.)

and financial support literally at the fingertips of farmers.

To this end, the order of the day was the creation of a highly accessible, content-rich

and relevant, web portal that effectively meets the needs and limitations of the average

European small and medium sized dairy farmer. Indeed such a web portal would

represent a major breakthrough in delivering European-wide support to dairy farmers.

Through the vibrant dissemination of the web portal to Dairy Collectives across Europe,

the GERONIMO initiative would push forward opportunities for dairy farmers in the

area of sustainable energy practices, both in terms of energy efficiency and renewable

energy.

2. The GERONIMO success- results and impacts

In this section we will discuss the main results or outputs of the GERONIMO project, as

well as their impact during the funding period, and their expected impact post-project.

We are confident that we have acquired significant best practice along the way that we

can share.

2.1 The result- GERONIMO Portal www.dairyenergy.eu

Through the interactive web portal- The European Dairy Energy website-

GERONIMO aimed at bridging the information and knowledge gap that has been

preventing dairy farmers from reaping the benefits of becoming more energy efficient

on their farms and tapping into renewable energy potential on-farm.

Access to information and knowledge is indeed fundamental to effective and

knowledge-based decision making. In order to ensure that farmers are indeed

http://www.dairyenergy.eu/


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empowered to make effective decisions about the most effective energy saving

measures to be taken on their farmers, GERONIMO has strived to build a one-stop-shop

for the dairy farmers that are interested in energy related issues.

Essentially, the project has effectively delivered this, as it has provided dairy producers

with an information hub where they can access a wide range of energy information

relating to their business. It has brought together information from a wide range of

sources making it easier for the dairy farmers to find the information that he or she

might require.

In order to assist dairy farmers further, a series of online GERONIMO Calculators

were developed during the project and embedded in the web portal in order to provide

easy to use, practical tools for calculating the potential on farm energy savings that can

be achieved by investing in energy saving technology, such as energy efficient lighting,

variable speed drives, etc., as well as by enabling them to establish the energy

generation potential and return on investment estimates on investments in biogas, wind,

solar, etc.

To complement and enrich the information and tools available on the GERONIMO

Portal, European dairy farmers are provided with free access to a panel of expertise in

energy efficiency, renewable energy, dairy farming equipment and novel energy saving

devices, etc. Since the European Dairy Energy Portal was launched on the World Wide

Web in November 2008, a series of online seminars and web-based activities have been

organised in collaboration with the GERONIMO Expert Panel. These events have been

highly interactive, enabling registered users to engage with the expert panel. In addition

to organised web-based events, the expert panel are at the disposal of registered

GERONIMO users for consultations, advice and guidance. (A detailed description the

Expert Panel can be found on www.dairyenergy.eu under the section “Ask

GERONIMO”).

In addition, and in order to recognise on-farm achievements in the area of energy

efficiency and use of renewable energy sources, the project organised the 1st European

GERONIMO awards and also secured the endorsement and sponsorship of a well

known brand in the sector, ECOLAB. The winning candidate, a Swedish dairy farmer,

was presented with the award during an official ceremony at the final project event.

2.2 The impact- the hard facts

As a result of the deployment of the European Dairy Energy portal, its tools and experts,

the most important envisaged impact of the GERONIMO initiative is indeed its

contribution to getting energy reduction on dairy farm agendas and assisting farmers in

taking steps to become more energy efficient and to tap into the renewable energy

sources (RES) on their farms. How effective has GERONIMO been?



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2.2.1 Generating Awareness among the target group

GERONIMO effectively contributed to generating awareness among dairy farmers

about the benefits of implementing energy efficient practices on farm and the

opportunities that could be offered by renewable energy sources being tapped into on

farm. Information about GERONIMO, its benefits and how to become involved, have

reached more than 400 dairy and agricultural associations across Europe, 140

Agricultural colleges and institutions and over 600 energy related content providers, as

a result of the comprehensive GERONIMO databases that were built at the beginning of

the project and subsequently used for mailing and communication purposes throughout

the project.

In addition, GERONIMO has networked with a series of European organisations that

have access to dairy associations and dairy farmers across Europe, such as:

The European Council of Young Farmers (Conseil European des Jeunes

Agriculteurs- CEJA, www.ceja.org ) actively disseminated information about

GERONIMO to their members during the project and they have also agreed to

disseminate the GERONIMO Portal among their members beyond the funding

period and in view of this (and provided as an annex to this Manual).

The International Farm Comparison Network (www.ifcnnetwork.org ).

Collaboration was initiated with them and GERONIMO became one of IFCN’s

Institutional Partners. A memorandum of cooperation was signed with them to

cement the collaboration (and provided as an annex to this Manual).

The European Dairy Farmers (www.dairyfarmer.net). GERONIMO was

presented to them during their Annual Congress in Cork, Ireland, in 2009.

Along with other national or local dairy related associations and organisations, they

have contributed to positioning GERONIMO in the European Dairy Market and

supported us our awareness generating process.

Testament to the effectiveness of the GEONIMO awareness generation campaign, since

its launch on the World Wide Web, www.dairyenergy.eu has received over 734,390

visits and currently has 1300 registered users or members of which 678 are dairy

farmers, 84 are Dairy Associations, 251 are energy experts, 102 Academic Staff, 90

equipment manufacturers and 95 agricultural students. A breakdown of registered

users per category can be found in the graph below:

http://www.ceja.org/

http://www.ifcnnetwork.org/

http://www.dairyfarmer.net/



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Figure 1- GERONIMO registered users by category

In terms of the geographical span of the registered users, while the majority of the

GERONIMO users come from the EU27, Turkey and Croatia, 27% are from other

countries from around the world: USA, Australia, New Zeeland, India, Brazil, Peru,

Mexico, Argentina, Canada, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. A graph showing

the distribution by country is shown in the figure below:

Figure 2- GERONIMO registered users by country

2.2.2 What did the GERONIMO users have to say about the portal?

With a view to evaluating the usefulness and relevance of the European Dairy Energy

Portal, an evaluation campaign was conducted from June 2009 to October 2009 among


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the registered dairy farmer users of the portal in order to obtain structured feedback

from them about the content, the tools and functionality of the site.

From the total 678 GERONIMO dairy farmer registered users, just over 35% of them

responded to the questionnaire (237).

We firstly asked them about the frequency with which they use the internet. From the

graph below it can be seen that 55 % of them use the internet daily or almost every day

and a further 41% use it on weekly basis or at least a few times a month.

Figure 1- Frequency of use of the Internet among the GERONIMO Dairy Farmers

In terms of frequency with which they use of the GERONIMO web portal, 57% of the

respondents claimed to be regular visitors to the site, which is a testament to its

relevance for them. 40% of respondents said they were occasional users, with only 3%

saying that they rarely use the site, which would correlate well with the 4% of

respondents above who claim to use the internet less frequently.

Figure 2- Frequency of visits by registered dairy farmer users to the site


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In terms of their motivations to visit the site, 72% of respondents said that their main

motivation was the opportunity to interact with other dairy farmers and energy experts,

which serves to confirm the effectiveness of the effort that GERONIMO has made to

build a web portal with functionality and tools to support a virtual community of

professionals (blogs, profiles, members directory, forums, instant messaging tools, etc.).

A further 16% said their main motivation to visit the site was to access information that

will help them to reduce their energy costs. As is shown in the figure below, other

motivations included the opportunity to find out about new developments and

technologies in the field of dairy energy efficiency and renewable energy opportunities,

grant and funding opportunities.

Figure 3- Motivations to visit the GERONIMO Portal

Respondents were then asked to rank the usefulness of the different content sections of

the web portal.

Regarding the Energy Efficiency Section, 62% of respondents said this section was

very useful, and a further 34% found it either useful or quite useful.


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Figure 4- Ranking of the usefulness of the Energy Efficiency Section of the GERONIMO portal

This reveals the relevance of the content contained in this section, which is of central

importance to the portal, whereby theoretical knowledge and as well practical

fundamentals and equipment that dairy farmers need to explore and consider in order to

make energy savings is also provided. It aims to assist the dairy farmer primarily in

saving energy and money, by providing quick and easy access to relevant

information on energy saving equipment, tools, methods and best practices which

are comprehensively categorised in keeping with the key points of energy consumption

on modern dairy farms: Vacuum Pumps; Milk Cooling; Water Heating; Lighting;

Ventilation; Manure Handling; Feeding; and Water Management.

Regarding the Renewable Energy Sources section of the portal, this contains

comprehensive information and advice about Wind Power, Solar Energy and Biogas.

Over half of the respondents (51%) found it very useful, while a further 35% it to be

useful, as shown in the graph below:

Figure 5- Ranking of the usefulness of the Renewable Energy Section of the GERONIMO

Portal


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The Funding and Legislation Section of the website, whereby users (by simply

clicking on their region on an interactive map of Europe) can find a range of funding

opportunities, as well as legislative and regulatory formation at local, regional, national

and European level, was considered very useful by the majority of the respondents

(52%), with a further 29% of respondents finding it useful and 17% finding it very

useful. Again this is a testament to the relevance and quality of the content contained in

the GERONIMO web portal.

Figure 6- Ranking of the usefulness of the Funding and Legislation section

In terms of the tools that are available on the site, as can be seen from the next figure,

58% of respondents said that they were very useful and a further 23% said that they

were useful. The tools are for the most part are made up of the state-of-the-art

GERONIMO Calculators that have been developed by the GERONIMO consortium and

Expert Panel. These calculators enable farmers to calculate the energy savings that can

be made from investments in energy efficient technologies and practices, as well as

establishing the energy that can be generated and the expected return on investment

from investments in RES. The following calculators are currently available on the

GERONIMO Portal: Vacuum Pump Calculator; Milk Cooling Calculator; Water

Heating Calculator; Lighting Systems Calculator; Ventilation systems Calculator;

Biogas Calculator; CO2 Calculator.

http://www.dairyenergy.eu/index.php?option=com_ieecalculator&calcType=1&Itemid=385









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Figure 7- Ranking of the usefulness of the Tools section of the GERONIMO portal

In terms of the hints and tips section, comprised of expert advice on how to save energy,

often through behavioural practices that do not require significant, in any, monetary

investments, 41% of the respondents found this content to be useful and a further 44%

found it to be quite useful, and 6% found it very useful.

Figure 8- Ranking of the usefulness of the Hints and Tips Section of the GERONIMO portal

From figure 10 below, 80% of the respondents found the GERONIMO forum to be very

useful (6%), useful (28%) or quite useful (46%)


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Figure 9- Ranking of the usefulness of the GERONIMO Forum

The GERONIMO Expert Panel, an important advisory body made up of energy experts

in the field of renewable energy, electrical engineers, academics, scientists and

researchers, offering registered users with free expert advice and guidance, was ranked

as useful by 47% of respondents and very useful by a further 11%. 35% found this

service to be quite useful, while only 1% of respondents did not find it of use.

Figure 10- Ranking of the usefulness of the GERONIMO Expert Panel

When asked what other content, tools and activities registered would find useful, 35%

of the respondents would value more access to information on the latest

technology, equipment, innovations, etc. A further 16% would value more access to

more information on funding opportunities. Respondents would also like more

opportunities to interact more with other users of the website (9%), as well as the

opportunity to enter competitions and awards (9%).


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Figure 11- Suggestions for additional features, content and activities

From the above, it can be concluded that the European Dairy Energy Portal created and

deployed during the GERONIMO project has indeed been a success in terms of

attracting registered users, who return to the site to use the content, tools and features,

which for the most part have been well received and considered to be useful by the

majority of users. There is further opportunity to heighten the networking and

interactive scope of the portal to offer more content related to funding opportunities and

sources of financing, as well as build on the efforts that were initiated with the

organisation of the 1st European GERONIMO awards.

2.2.3 The real impact- converting intentions into action

Based on a survey that was conducted among over one third of the GERONIMO

registered dairy farmers (237 out of 678), 85% of the farmers that participated in the

survey have implemented some form of energy efficient practice or RES during the

project duration, in the following areas (Fig. 13):

Regular energy recording & meter reading

Low energy lighting

Water pre-cooling of milk

Water heating using heat from refrigeration exhaust

Low energy motors

Variable speed electric motor drives

Time switches on water heating

Time switches on lighting.


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Figure 12: Types of energy saving measured implemented on farm

Additionally, as can be seen from figure 14 below, 12% of the registered dairy farmers

surveyed invested in some form of renewable energy sources (Biogas, Wind Power and

Solar Power).

Figure 13: Typology of investments in renewable energy sources on farm

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Some 56% of farms surveyed are planning to implement some form of investment in

energy efficiency or RES in the coming 3 years and 13% are planning to do so within

the next 18 months, the remainder (30%) were not sure.

Figure 14- Future plans to invest in energy efficient practices or RES

According to the survey, the main areas for future investments in energy efficiency are:

low energy motors

time switches on water heating

water heating using heat from refrigeration exhaust

In terms of RES, the main investment areas are Biogas and Wind Energy, and mostly

within the next 3 years, as these kinds of investment need careful and long-term

planning due to their complexity and the financial resources involved.

2.2.4 European recognition

We are confident that we are making inroads in getting energy reduction on the agendas

of European dairy farmers. Other European bodies have noticed our efforts as well. For

example, in June 2009 GERONIMO became a Sustainable Energy Europe Partner

(www.sustenenergy.org) in recognition of its contribution to sustainable energy

communities in Europe. The project is now a candidate for the Sustainable Energy

Europe Awards Competition 2010, the results of which will be announced in March

2010. In addition, the GERONIMO Portal has been nominated for the Best ICT4EE

Project Award recognising ICT innovation contributing to substantial and measurable

improvements in energy efficiency in Europe.

http://www.sustenenergy.org/


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2.3 Lasting impact- GERONIMO post project

With a view to a true long-term impact being derived from the efforts of the

GERONIMO project, it is vital that the web portal continues to be disseminated, as the

2 years of the funding period is too short a timeframe to see the true impact of such an

initiative manifest itself.

To this end, the European Dairy Energy Portal will continue in the www beyond the

funding period, as the GERONIMO consortium are committed to continuing the

hosting, maintenance, updating and deployment of the existing web portal among the

European dairy farming community. The existing member base will continue to be

served, and membership can continue to grow and consolidate itself among the dairy

farming community across Europe, as well as to other roll-out sectors. Moreover, the

GERONIMO awards will also continue as an annual event, and the sponsorship of

ECOLAB has also been secured for future editions of the award.

This is the true success of a funded or part funded initiative- that it can continue to

thrive when the funding period is over.

3. Lessons we can share with you

Through the experiences we have gained during the execution of the GERONIMO

project, we have amassed a number of key lessons that we would like to share with

other projects or initiatives.

3.1 Make your target group the starting point

The GERONIMO project was clear on the importance of a “bottom-up” approach

right from its outset. To this end, the needs of dairy farmers were thoroughly researched

during the initial stages of the project and the results were used to drive the future work

to be carried out in order to ensure the project objectives were met.

Furthermore, by applying the knowledge of the target group during the implementation

of the project, this will heighten the potential for success. For example, in the case of

dairy farmers, it can be difficult for them to attend seminars and events held in the

middle of the day, as they need to be on-farm. To this end, dissemination activities had

had to be cleverly planned to ensure that they were effective in reaching busy dairy

farmers. Research carried out at the beginning of the project identified the preferred

dissemination channels of dairy farmers and GERONIMO tapped into these

accordingly. To this end, effort was shifted from organizing stand-alone GERONIMO

events to tapping into larger events that already had a consolidated dairy farmer

following, such as the Dairy Event in the UK, the events of the European Dairy

Federation, etc., the Girona Trade Fair (which has the following of the regional dairy


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community), etc. In addition, Farm Walks and visits are also effective as dairy farmers

like to visit the farms of their peers and see how other farmers are operating their farms,

using new technology, saving energy, adopting RES, etc.

Furthermore, the bottom-up survey carried out at the beginning of the project, identified

written communication and materials, as effective means of communicating with dairy

farmers. In order to determine the successfulness of the various dissemination channels

used during the GERONIMO project, indeed 67% of the dairy farmers found out about

the GERONIMO initiative through some form of written communication- newspaper or

press article, direct mailing from one of the project partners or project leaflets. 14%

found out about the site at a trade fair or an event, and finally, 12% of respondents were

either referred to the site by others or came across the site while browsing the internet.

Figure 15- How the GERONIMO dairy farmers found out about the portal

Moreover, the GERONIMO consortium also included representatives of the target

group (2 dairy farming associations and 1 dairy farmer), which enabled them to be

involved in its steering and implementation. To have representatives of the target group

as project partners, has been invaluable and has enabled a true bottom-up approach to be

woven into the execution of the entire project. It has also been a contributor to ensuring

the continuity of the initiative beyond the funding period, as they will continue to use,

disseminate and deploy the site among their members. During the project they have also

been of great help in keeping GERONIMO continually connected to dairy farmers

beyond the consortium. This first hand connection to the target group cannot be

underestimated and helps to ensure that the project evolution and results remain relevant

for them.


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3.2 Maximise the potential of your project website

Your project website is an invaluable dissemination tool. The target group should be

able to relate to its contents and find the site useful and informative. It is vital not to fall

into the trap of producing another “European project website”! To avoid this, it is of

paramount importance not to target your website at the funding body, in this case the

Intelligent Energy Europe programme. The target group needs to come first. This is not

to say that you don’t acknowledge the support of the IEE programme (or the relevant

funding body in question), or that you don’t provide information about the funding

programme. However, the design and core content of the website needs to be tailored to

the target group. Also, the site needs to be regularly updated and should incorporate a

sense of movement, dynamic and renovation. The target group will stop visiting the site

if it is not regularly updated.

During the building of the GERONIMO portal it was necessary to go back to the

drawing board on a number of occasions, in view of the user-centred approach, whereby

dairy farmers had the final say on what was suitable and appealing for them. On the

third attempt the portal image and structure was finally acceptable to the test group.

This is simply part and parcel of development work and should not be considered a

waste of time or lost time. Contingency plan for it

For those projects that will build web portals, here are a number of technical

considerations that might be of help:

Selecting the most suitable Content Management System (CMS) is a key factor

for the smooth running of the portal. Our advice to consortia would be to

research a number of frameworks to ensure that the CMS system will meet all

the technical requirements of the portal. The GERONIMO project uses Joomla

1.0.x, which is in essence a practical and user friendly CMS platform. Joomla is

a free CMS platform and additional features and functionality can be purchased

during the project. In general this platform proved relatively easy to use, and

while one or two limitations were noticed, in general this platform has enabled

us to build a relatively complete and interactive web portal.

Ensure cross-browser compatibility, whereby the site operates with all internet

browsers such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Google, Chrome and other internet

browsers and operating systems. This is important for maximising usability.

Optimisations for fast page loading were needed in order to ensure that the site

loads rapidly.

As the GERONIMO portal’s content was very much user based, proper article

uploading functionality was required.


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Multilanguage support is important when dealing with a pan-European portal.

Ensure the portal is interactive and can support a virtual community.

Ensure that at least one of the partners in the consortium has the knowledge and

skills to build and maintain the portal- we would not recommend that this work

be subcontracted out.

3.3- Addressing multilingual and multicultural challenges

It is vital not to underestimate the multilingual character of Europe, especially

when embarking on a project that is heavily content based, as was the case of

GERONIMO. The whole issue of languages needs to be given very careful

consideration, as do regional differences that might make certain content irrelevant or

of little interest to different regions of Europe.

In the case of GERONIMO, in order to ensure homogeneity of content, message and

branding of the portal at European level, a critical mass of static content that would be

relevant for dairy farmers irrespective of their geographical differences, was created in

English and then translated into the partner languages and one or two additional

languages. This was deemed as a realistic approach, and beyond this the master site is in

English language, and each of the national sites may contain different national and

regional content in its own language and in keeping with its own regional farming

needs, which may be driven by climatic differences, etc.

3.4 Effectively pitching your message

It is vital to know how to position or pitch your project to the target group. In the case

of GERONIMO, when it comes to communicating the issue of energy efficiency and its

importance for dairy farmers, it is of critical importance to be capable of effectively

positioning energy related issues in a meaningful way. If we look some of the events

that unfolded over the course of the action, such as the foot and mouth crisis in the UK,

falling milk prices across Europe, etc., it is very important to contextualise the

communication strategy and to ensure that energy efficiency can find its place among

such priorities for farmers.

3.5 Keeping up the good work

Actions such as GERONIMO, which focus on getting energy efficiency on the agendas

of SMEs, require a long term vision, and as such they require time and dedication. In

the case of GERONIMO the funding period provided us with the means, the partnership


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and the thrust to commence this much needed work within the dairy farming sector.

Future actions and continuations of this effort beyond the funding period will be

implemented by the consortium in order to take the initiative from strength to strength.

The key lesson we would like to transmit here is that 2 years is a short time and we

would recommend consortia to look at funding as a means for getting started and for

getting worthwhile initiatives off the ground, rather than seeing funding as a means to

an end.

So keep the issue of the sustainability of the results of the project beyond the co-

funding period of the action very much in mind. The GERONIMO consortium

addressed this issue right from the project’s KICK-OFF, and consequently this has

conditioned the way in which some parts of the work have been developed and

implemented. For example, in order to try to ensure the future continuity of the web

portal beyond the funding period, we decided to develop a web environment that would

enable the creation of a “Virtual Community” incorporating functionality such as

forums, blogs, user-profiles, etc. as this would contribute to ensuring that the site might

take on its own lease of life which would help it to survive into the future. In addition to

this, by providing functionality that would enable GERONIMO registered users to

upload their own content, we think the site will have the chance to become independent

of the GERONIMO consortium overtime.

3.5 Some tips on project management

In terms of project management, it is vital to have a solid system of risk analysis and

contingency planning in place. Work does not always go to plan! The early detection

of risks that might jeopardise the project or create a major bottleneck that could severely

hamper workflow progress is a key element for ensuring a healthy project. In the case of

GERONIMO for example the issue of languages and the “European” relevance of

content was identified as a risk to the success of the project right at its outset and as a

contingency plan it has been decided to “regionalise” the site- i.e. the aim is to create

virtual communities of users in the different countries, as opposed to one “European”

site. This is a more challenging and lengthier approach, but it is one that will ensure

GERONIMO is just as relevant for farmers in Northern Sweden, as it is for farmers in

Southern Spain.

In terms of the project consortium, larger consortia will not always ensure a greater

workload will be carried out, as they can be more difficult to manage. Our advice would

be to keep the consortium meaningful and ensure that all partners have a clear role in

the work plan. It is important to avoid duplication of roles, as well as entrusting the full

involvement of all partners in all tasks. If you involve to many partners of a similar

profile who are all involved collaboratively in carrying out similar tasks, it can lead to

overlap, duplication or even some partners allowing the others to do the work! It is

important to define well the relevant areas of work to be carried out in the work plan,

and identify the necessary roles and the most suitable partners for implementing these

roles.


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Ensure that work package leaders are empowered to take on ownership of leading and

taking responsibility for the execution of their work packages and avoid that all the

responsibility falls to the project coordinator. This is not effective project management!

It was highly beneficial for the GERONIMO initiative to have a dairy farmer involved

in the consortium, as well as to have 2 Dairy Associations (Lleters de Catalunya,

Spain and the Royal Association of British Farmers). The design of a useful

GERONIMO on-line portal for the dairy community has been greatly facilitated by

having these members of the target group involved in steering the direction of the

project and the evolution of the work.

A Project Advisory Committee can also prove highly valuable if it is well thought out

and used. In the case of GERONIMO, the advisory committee eventually became like

the extended family of the GERONIMO consortium. Some members were present at

different meetings, some attended different events and activities and others offered us

support and advice by email and via telephone. To maximise the impact of such

Committees, ensure they have a clear purpose and that the members of the committee

can also identify with a clear value from being involved. It is a voluntary body, so use

the time of its members wisely- be flexible and realistic about the amount of time that

they can dedicate to the project. The Committee does not need to be tapped into

collectively at all times; rather Members can assist individually where required. If

possible, reserve reasonable budget in “other costs” to cover travel to sporadic meetings

or events during the project for some members of the committee. When bringing

Committee members to meetings, avoid having them sitting in meetings for sessions

related to internal management issues, reporting, timesheets, etc., which will be of little

relevance to them. Take their advice on board and if on some occasions it is not possible

to implement their advice, explain to them why. Give them visibility and

acknowledgement where possible.

4. Conclusions

The GERONIMO project has reached a successful conclusion, resulting in a true hub

for dairy energy stakeholders, the first European Dairy Energy Portal, that is serving as

a real contributor for change in energy use on dairy farms. One year after its full launch

on the World Wide Web, GERONIMO has generated a critical mass of registered users

made up of some 1300 dairy farmers, cooperatives and associations, energy experts,

academics, students and other stakeholders, and the site has received over 730,000

visitors since its full launch on the World Wide Web in November 2008. This is a true

testament to the Portal’s relevance and illustrates the usefulness of such a site for the

dairy farming community. In short, the GERONIMO consortium are very pleased with

the results that have been achieved over the course of the 25 month project that was

implemented with the support of the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, and they


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are inspired and motivated to build on the efforts and to share the experiences gained

with other projects and stakeholders, as well as to roll the GERONIMO initiative out to

other industrial sectors, to benefit a wider community.

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