sustainability – art, design and social practice

Energy Monitoring & Visualization (PDF)
Energy Monitoring & Visualization (Keynote)

Studies have shown that people who monitor their home energy use can save 10-20% on their electric bill and reduce their carbon footprint.

Using the ubiquitousness of mobile devices such as cell phones, users are able to monitor and set timers for their household electronics and appliances. A real-time system to help individuals take control of their energy usage.

The system is made up of two parts, a series of hardware attachments that transmit energy usage data, and an application for your personal computer and mobile device, which allows you to control and monitor electricity use from anywhere with network connectivity.

How it Works

1. Install energy monitoring software on your personal computer & mobile device.
2. Attach hardware to powered devices around the home.
3. Sync hardware to software, mapping each powered device to motoring application.
4. Use software to remotely monitor your energy usage, control your devices, and set up automatic timers.
5. Share data throughout a community of users, providing social awareness of one’s personal usage, and useful information

You can instantly see the results of changes you make in your energy use – such as installing more energy efficient appliances – to get real world data of how much energy (and money) you’re saving.

Numbers and graphs to refelct energy usage can sometimes, to the average user, seem foreign, distant, and difficult to really comprehend.  To deal with this I have also imagined an interface which uses personal avatars to emotionally reflect the affects of your personal usage.

By enabling users to be more aware of their daily energy usage and bringing the issue to the forefront of consciousness, positive behavioral change would result.