Design of an appliance level eco-feedback display for domestic electricity consumption

Abstract

Over the past decade there has been an increased focus on eco-feedback systems for electricity consumption due to emerging technologies that allow detailed and real-time usage data to be collected and presented to users. In this paper, we present the design of an always-on ecofeedback display, PowerViz, that provides information about people's power usage in their homes at an appliance level. In our study, we found that PowerViz increased awareness towards energy consumption, gave householders a better understanding of high consumption devices and made it easy for them to isolate and respond to unnecessary or "greedy" appliances by turning them off or changing their use patterns. We also found that an ambient display of the household's total current electricity use both informed and attracted people to use the system when power usage became unusually high.

Exploring the flexibility of everyday practices for shifting energy consumption through clockcast

“…To support electricity curtailment, more and more technologies are being implemented to provide people with feedback about their resource consumption under the common framing of supporting the individual to change behavior. These technologies range from simple digital in-home displays and energy meters [3,14] to more interactive screen-based visualizations combining mobile and dashboard capabilities to facilitate the exploration of historical consumption data [3,14,32,36]. To reduce the cognitive load induced by these technologies, more elaborated techniques utilize ambient feedback through either designing artistically inspired visualizations as aesthetic objects [3,4,31], or augmenting everyday objects in the home e.g., radiators [18], power cords [16], and outlets [22].…”

“…Existing research has illustrated a wide range of ways to provide users with feedback about resource consumption, from approaches that seek to integrate the information into existing artifacts already present in the home, such as power sockets [22], clocks [9], or power cords [16]. Others add novel artifacts to the home, such as a robotic pet [1], ambient displays [26,28,31], or screen-based information displays [32,49]. However, despite the variety and even beauty of some of these devices, they often tend to draw attention, rather than blending into people's home.…”

Product Design Enhancing Environmental Perception and Encouraging Behavioural Change: Eco-Information – the Relationship of Design Styles and User’s Emotions

“…Laschke, Hassenzahl, Diefenbach and Tippkämper, (2011) use abstract form to design the Shower Calendar (ambient visualization tool) to show water usage volume. Light bulbs are used to design a display to show residential electricity usage (Paay, Kjeldskov, Skov, Lund, Madsen, & Nielsen, 2014). In addition, design of Amphiro uses a figure of polar bear to design Amphiro_Smart Water Meter to communicate natural impacts that rise from water usage.…”

An analysis of persuasive technologies for energy demand side management

“…C'est plutôt l'interface qui va accéder au noyau fonctionnel du système et communiquer avec l'utilisateur. Par exemple, PowerViz [45] et Abstract Ambient [57] sont deux SIPs qui utilisent une interface graphique ambiante visible à l'échelle d'une pièce qui communique l'information au groupe d'individus présents dans la pièce. À défaut de Abstract Ambient, PowerViz permet à un individu de manipuler l'interface pour accéder à des fonctions de comparaison temporelle et spatiale.…”

“…L'autre moitié comporte presque exclusivement des interfaces purement graphiques sur appareils mobiles ou sont des applications web, qui représentent 41% des SIPs (18/44). Enfin, les SIPs restants sont, sauf un, des interfaces graphiques ambiantes (9,1%, soit 4/44) affichées sur des appareils mobiles ou via des appareils de projection (Abstract Ambient [57], PowerViz [45], Nuage Vert [18], Reveal-it ! [65] [33], Abstract Ambient [57] et PowerViz [45]) et seulement un SIP fixe est à la frontière entre l'espace domestique et public (BoEL [33]).…”