EU Ecodesign and Energy Labelling measures have helped consumers purchase more energy-efficient products and reduce energy consumption. However, the energy performance of appliances is typically calculated under standardised testing conditions, which may not fully reflect how products are used in people’s homes. 

Real-life energy consumption can vary depending on factors such as appliance settings, usage patterns, household composition, climate conditions, socio-economic circumstances and electricity prices. TRUE-LIFE will provide valuable evidence on these factors by gathering data directly from households in different European countries. This information will improve understanding of actual energy consumption patterns and support future policy, research and standardisation activities. 
 

What?
A large-scale, multi-country monitoring campaign to collect and analyse real-life energy consumption data from household appliances. 

Who?
At least 300 households across three European countries, with a minimum of 100 households participating in each country. 

How?
Using non-intrusive appliance-level metering equipment and household surveys to better understand the factors influencing real-life energy consumption.

Where?

• Austria

• Bulgaria

• Portugal

The three countries provide different climatic, geographic and energy-market contexts.

When?
The project will run for 36 months, from 1 September 2026 until 31 August 2029. 

TRUE-LIFE brings together six organisations with expertise in energy monitoring, behavioural research, consumer policy, standardisation and stakeholder engagement. 

Silicon Austria Labs (SAL)
Project coordinator
SAL is an Austrian research organisation specialising in electronic-based systems and sustainability-related research. SAL coordinates the project and leads activities related to data processing and analysis, as well as communication, dissemination and long-term exploitation of project results.

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC)
BEUC (Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs) is the umbrella group for 45 independent consumer organisations from 31 countries. Its main role is to ensure that consumer interests are reflected in EU policymaking. Within TRUE-LIFE, BEUC leads the work on policy recommendations, helping to translate project findings into evidence-based recommendations for policymakers and other stakeholders working on product policy, Ecodesign and Energy Labelling.  

Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE)
RISE leads the design of the study methodology, including sampling, monitoring protocols and survey development. RISE also contributes to analysing the behavioural and contextual drivers of energy consumption.

RNAE – Association of Energy and Environment Agencies
RNAE leads the deployment and monitoring activities, including household recruitment, participant engagement and collection of monitoring data.

Sofia Energy Centre (SEC)
SEC supports household recruitment, deployment of monitoring equipment and public engagement activities in Bulgaria.

Spanish Association for Standardisation (UNE)
UNE contributes expertise on European and international standards and will help translate project findings into recommendations relevant to standardisation processes. 
 

Developing a harmonised methodology
The project will establish a common methodology for the monitoring campaign across participating countries. This includes defining the sampling framework, identifying appliance categories to monitor, developing harmonised monitoring protocols, selecting suitable metering devices, and developing and validating household surveys.

Monitoring household energy use
The project will recruit households in Austria, Bulgaria and Portugal and support them throughout the monitoring period. Participating households will use monitoring equipment to collect data on the energy consumption of selected household appliances under normal usage conditions. Household surveys will provide additional information about usage habits and other relevant factors.

Analysing consumption patterns
The collected data will be cleaned, validated and analysed to better understand appliance energy consumption patterns, differences between countries and household types, how people's behaviour influences energy use, and the contextual factors affecting consumption. The analysis will also compare real-life energy consumption with the assumptions typically used in standard testing approaches.

Supporting policy and standardisation discussions
The project will use its findings to develop recommendations and share evidence with policymakers, researchers, consumer organisations and standardisation bodies. Activities will include policy recommendations, stakeholder engagement, knowledge exchange, technical recommendations and dissemination events.

Sharing knowledge and results
TRUE-LIFE aims to make its results accessible to a broad audience through a variety of public outputs, including reports, policy and standardisation recommendations, scientific publications, an anonymised open-access dataset, a technical handbook and replicability guide, as well as communication materials for the public and other stakeholders.

BEUC’s role
BEUC leads the project’s work on policy translation and recommendations. As the European consumer voice, BEUC will help ensure that the evidence generated by TRUE-LIFE informs European policy discussions and contributes to understanding how household appliances are used in real life. 

BEUC's activities include monitoring relevant policy developments, developing policy recommendations based on project findings, engaging with policymakers and stakeholders, contributing to relevant technical and policy discussions, and disseminating project results to consumer organisations and other audiences.

Expected results
By the end of the project, TRUE-LIFE aims to deliver a better understanding of the real-life energy consumption patterns of household appliances and evidence on the factors influencing energy use in households. The project will also provide publicly available datasets and technical resources, scientific and technical publications, policy recommendations, and recommendations to support standardisation activities.