Design and evaluation of eco-feedback interfaces to support location-based services for individual energy awareness and conservation

Abstract

The Eco-feedback technology has widely applied to the energy conservation. Eco-feedback technology is usually represented as any kind of interactive device or interface targeted at revealing energy consumption in order to promote users' energy awareness and then trigger more ecologically responsible behaviors. In this paper, the primary goal is to help the individual user understand his comparative energy consumption through the Eco-feedback energy visualization. The energy information we provide is the comparison between the historical average energy consumption and the instant energy consumption. Based on the instant comparative energy consumption, the user can intuitively understand the current energy consumption is higher or lower than usualness. We develop the location-based individual energy consumption feedback system named EME (Energy MEter). Integrated with the concepts of historical comparison and incentives, three kinds of eco-feedback interface prototypes including the Dichotomy type, the Accumulation type, and the Numeral type are designed and deployed in practical fields. The user study both from quantitative and qualitative surveys is conducted in order to find out the potential interface which links user and energy consumption data better. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.