With increasing concerns over global warming and financial costs of energy, energy management is becoming an important and growing area. Buildings consume considerable amounts of energy and water, and occupants generally have a high degree of control over their own consumption. Specifically, we were concerned with motivating change in the behavior of over 10,000 occupants of student dormitories on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. This project is a part of a larger design project entitled the Energy Challenge, which was lead by my esteemed colleague David Roedl. Primarily James Pierce and I helped conduct user research, iterate on an early Energy Challege interface design, and develop new conceptual design directions for next year's competition. The problem was: how can we affect the behavior of thousands of students to result in substantial consumption reduction through persuasive eco-visualizations.
We conducted task analyses, contextual inquires and usability evalutions with dormitory students.
We initially conducted task analyses, contextual inquiries, and ethnographic observations of students living in several dormitories across campus. We then conducted usability evaluations of an early interface concept and suggested substantial refinements. Additionally, we analyzed our observations and user responses to develop several new conceptual design directions (please see our design document for additional details).
The final Energy Challenge 2008 interface design. Check back in the future for the pledgewall and consumption checklist iterations.
From March 20 to April 17 2008, more than 9,000 students living in Indiana University dormitories competed to reduce their energy and water consumption in IU’s first-ever Campus Energy Challenge. Throughout the competition, the Energy Challenge Website provided frequent updates on consumption data, competition standings, and conservation tips. At the end of four weeks, students conserved an estimated 446,139 KWh of electricity and 613,919 gallons of water. Remarkably, the students’ conservation efforts resulted in an estimated $26,000 in avoided utility costs and 801,454 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to taking 67 passenger cars off the road for one year. We additionally suggested numerous concetpual design directions related to socially incentivizing next year's competition to help increasing student participation in the Energy Challenge, while promoting more energy efficient everyday behaviors among our population.
Odom, W., Pierce, J., Roedl, D. (2008). Social Incentive & Eco-Visualization Displays: Toward Persuading Greater Change in Dormitory Communities. In workshop proceedings of Public and Situated Displays to Support Communities. OZCHI 2008 Conference. (.pdf)
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