Creating energy awareness through visually stimulating dashboard design for social housing residents in the UK

The UK in pursuance of domestic emission targets achieved a 4.1% decrease in the CO2 emission between 2014 and 2015. The emissions were 32.2% lower than the 1990 base year value. However, the residential sector which contributed about 13% of UK’s 2015 greenhouse gas emission saw a 4% increase in emission within the same period. In addition, energy use between identical homes have been found to differ significantly; such variations in energy use can only be justified by the fact that energy consumption remains invisible to householders. Poor energy use has also been observed to drive many homes into fuel poverty. Research has shown that clearer cues are required to relate household lifestyle choices and daily activities to energy consumption. Space heating, cooking, washing, bathing and many other activities performed quite often in the homes are environmentally significant but appear discreet to everyday consciousness. These activities and the generation of the energy that power them are carbon-intensive and contributes to the greenhouse gas proportion in the atmosphere. These activities if poorly managed also produce indoor environment conditions that are detrimental to the health of householders.

This research uses data capturing and visualisation tools to provide householders with sufficient information to make the right choices about their energy use. Discreet real-time metering and sensor systems are introduced to homes and used to capture energy use while dashboards are used to make these details visible to the occupants. In addition, the dashboard provides optimisation tips to help the householders make better decisions. The householders’ perception and response to these tools has been observed, reported and analysed over time.