Case Study · Residential
39% less energy.
One game.
Bouwinvest deployed real-time utility data across 449 apartments at Het Dok, Amsterdam. Residents who joined the Energy Saving Game cut consumption by 39%, surfacing their own data through an app they already trusted.
Client
Location
Het Dok, Amsterdam
39%
Utility consumption reduction by participating residents
449
Apartments monitored at Het Dok, Amsterdam
API
Live data integration into the Zig Real Estate tenant app
3 partners
Rhino, iqbi, and Zig delivering one connected resident experience
The challenge
Sustainability goals. No resident buy-in.
Bouwinvest manages €12.9 billion in real estate assets across all leading property segments. Like every major institutional investor, they face growing pressure on two fronts: ESG compliance requires reliable utility data, and decarbonisation targets require residents to actually change behaviour.
The data collection problem was solvable with the right technology. The behaviour change problem was harder. You can show residents a number, but getting them to act on it is a different challenge entirely.
At Het Dok, a 449-apartment complex in Amsterdam, Bouwinvest and its partners set out to solve both problems at once: automate the data, surface it where residents already spend their time, and make sustainability something residents wanted to participate in rather than something done to them.
ESG data at building level
Bouwinvest needed reliable, automated consumption data for sustainability reporting, not spreadsheets, not manual reads. Real-time submeter data across all utilities.
Resident engagement at scale
449 apartments. Residents with different habits, different apps, different levels of interest in their energy bills. Any engagement tool had to meet them where they already were.
Measurable reduction, not just awareness
Bouwinvest needed to show that the programme worked. That meant a measurable consumption reduction, not just survey responses about awareness or intention to change.
The solution
The Energy Saving Game
iqbi and Bouwinvest implemented the Energy Saving Game at Het Dok, built on Rhino's real-time utility data and the Zig Real Estate resident platform. Residents were invited to participate by permitting their consumption data to be collected and displayed in the app they already used for everything from maintenance requests to rent payments.
1
Rhino collects the data
Real-time utility data across electricity, gas, and water at Het Dok flows into Rhino's platform. 15-minute interval readings per meter, continuously, with no manual input required.
2
iqbi routes it to the tenant app via API
iqbi's integration connects Rhino's data to the Zig Real Estate platform through a live API. Consumption data appears in the resident app in real time, attributed to each apartment.
3
The challenge: beat the average
Each month, residents were challenged to consume 10% less than the average for similar households. Their own consumption curve, compared against a meaningful benchmark, visible in the same app they already trusted.
4
A winner, a prize, and a proven result
The resident who saved the most across the game period won a €1,000 travel voucher. In total, participants reduced their consumption by 39% versus the comparable household average.
The results
What happened at Het Dok.
39%
Average utility consumption reduction by participants
Measured versus comparable households across the same period. Not modelled. Not estimated. Metered.
Tenant engagement
Residents monitored their own consumption in real time, directly inside the Zig app they already used. As Ron Seesing, Director of Commercial Real Estate at Zig, noted: residents could be challenged on their footprint with gamification features right in the application they already trust.
Enhanced sustainability
A 39% consumption reduction by participants translates directly into a smaller carbon footprint at the building level. Measurable ESG outcomes, supported by verified metered data, not surveys or proxy estimates. Reporting-grade evidence for Bouwinvest's institutional investors.
Customer satisfaction
Operational efficiency improved for property managers: consumption data centralised, ESG data automated, and tenant communication routed through a single platform. Residents got visibility and a reason to engage. Both sides came out ahead.
Residents who signed up for the iqbi energy module in the Zig tenant app reduced their utility consumption by an impressive 39%.
KN
Klaas Nijssen
CEO, iqbi
The collaboration
Four partners. One connected result.
The Energy Saving Game at Het Dok worked because four organisations each contributed something the others could not: data collection, ESG expertise, resident platform, and property ownership. Each piece dependent on the others.
Utility data
Rhino
Real-time electricity, gas, and water data across all 449 apartments at Het Dok, collected and automated. 15-minute interval readings, no manual input. The data layer the rest of the project was built on.
ESG data consultant
iqbi
Full-service ESG data consultant across 11 EU countries. Managed project planning, installation, authorisations, and the API integration connecting Rhino to the Zig platform. Specialised in sustainable real estate and submetering for transparent service cost settlements.
Tenant experience platform
Zig Real Estate
The resident platform that Het Dok tenants already used for rental matters, customer contact, and building services. Rhino's consumption data surfaced here via the iqbi integration, making the Energy Saving Game visible in the app residents trusted daily.
Property owner
Bouwinvest
Institutional real estate investor managing €12.9 billion in assets. Committed to creating sustainable urban environments that deliver stable returns for pension fund and insurance clients. Het Dok is part of their residential portfolio in Amsterdam.
Het Dok
449 apartments. Amsterdam.
Bouwinvest's 449-apartment residential complex on the IJ in Amsterdam Noord. Part of the institutional residential portfolio the Energy Saving Game was rolled out across.
Het Dok, Amsterdam. 449 residential apartments managed by Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors.
Your portfolio.
Your data.
Rhino connects to your existing metering infrastructure and delivers real-time utility data across every building, every utility. No infrastructure overhaul. Active in 40+ countries.
Further reading
From the Rhino blog.
