Overview

The undertaken research into the domain of household energy consumption identified one main problem, being the existing unconscious habits of consumers due to a lack of energy visibility. There is an opportunity to design a technology that is able to force consumers out of these habits of unconscious energy consumption and into a more actively and conscious awareness where users are motivated to conserve energy. Additionally, based off the research by (Intille, 2007) it would be most beneficial to focus the technology design on empowering and assisting users in decision making rather than being fully automated as stripping users from their sense of control in the use of pervasive technologies has been shown to be psychologically and physically debilitating, ideal pervasive technologies should integrate learning into the everyday activities of users, helping them to learn how to control their household environment on their own.

Requirements

Interaction Paradigms

• Graphical display
• Tablet
• Interact with the technology upon their arrival home as the tablet is their first point of reference when they walk through the door.