TY - JOUR
T1 - Sensors, sense-making and sensitivities
T2 - UK household experiences with a feedback display on energy consumption and indoor environmental conditions
AU - Wood, Georgina
AU - Day, Rosie
AU - Creamer, Emily
AU - van der Horst, Dan
AU - Hussain, Atif
AU - Liu, Shuli
AU - Shukla, Ashish
AU - Iweka, Obiajulu
AU - Gaterell, Mark
AU - Petridis, Panagiotis
AU - Adams, Nicholas
AU - Brown, Victoria
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2019/9
Y1 - 2019/9
N2 - Smart metering of domestic energy use allows consumer feedback through in-home displays (IHDs), websites or smart phone apps. Research has illustrated the need for additional ‘sense-making’ information to help households make informed energy-related decisions. This study investigates how household members respond when energy consumption data is integrated with information on indoor environmental conditions (IECs)and coupled with advice on energy saving actions. An integrated system of energy meters and IEC sensors was trialled in 19 predominantly social housing properties in the Midlands (England). Households were provided with a tablet computer and feedback was provided via a dedicated ‘Energy Dashboard’ web-based software application (app). The app was designed in collaboration with the social housing provider to display electricity and gas consumption data as well as data on three IECs: relative humidity, carbon dioxide and temperature. This paper draws on the findings from two rounds of semi-structured interviews with participants. All respondents using the app reported that they made use of the IEC data within the sense-making process, finding temperature and humidity to be useful in linking energy consumption, activities and household conditions. Interpretation of IEC data tended to increase with time as understanding increased. However, different users ‘noticed’, ‘interpreted’ and ‘enacted’ information differently as they integrated this with other sources of information, such as feedback from household members and experiential knowledge. The findings suggest that, whilst incorporating greater contextual information, such as IECs, into feedback displays can help users make sense of domestic energy consumption, the outcomes of the sense-making process will be different for different households. Nevertheless, the provision of such information appears to support householders to make decisions about their energy management that they feel appropriate for their household's wellbeing needs, within the bounds of their agency.
AB - Smart metering of domestic energy use allows consumer feedback through in-home displays (IHDs), websites or smart phone apps. Research has illustrated the need for additional ‘sense-making’ information to help households make informed energy-related decisions. This study investigates how household members respond when energy consumption data is integrated with information on indoor environmental conditions (IECs)and coupled with advice on energy saving actions. An integrated system of energy meters and IEC sensors was trialled in 19 predominantly social housing properties in the Midlands (England). Households were provided with a tablet computer and feedback was provided via a dedicated ‘Energy Dashboard’ web-based software application (app). The app was designed in collaboration with the social housing provider to display electricity and gas consumption data as well as data on three IECs: relative humidity, carbon dioxide and temperature. This paper draws on the findings from two rounds of semi-structured interviews with participants. All respondents using the app reported that they made use of the IEC data within the sense-making process, finding temperature and humidity to be useful in linking energy consumption, activities and household conditions. Interpretation of IEC data tended to increase with time as understanding increased. However, different users ‘noticed’, ‘interpreted’ and ‘enacted’ information differently as they integrated this with other sources of information, such as feedback from household members and experiential knowledge. The findings suggest that, whilst incorporating greater contextual information, such as IECs, into feedback displays can help users make sense of domestic energy consumption, the outcomes of the sense-making process will be different for different households. Nevertheless, the provision of such information appears to support householders to make decisions about their energy management that they feel appropriate for their household's wellbeing needs, within the bounds of their agency.
KW - Energy consumption
KW - Energy feedback
KW - Household trial
KW - Sense-making
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065825177&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.erss.2019.04.013
DO - 10.1016/j.erss.2019.04.013
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85065825177
SN - 2214-6296
VL - 55
SP - 93
EP - 105
JO - Energy Research and Social Science
JF - Energy Research and Social Science
ER -