Investigating real-time feedback of energy consumption and emission data through sonic interaction design

As buildings become increasingly automated and energy efficient, the relative impact of occupants on the overall building carbon footprint is expected to increase. Research shows that by changing occupant behaviour energy savings between 5 and 15 % could be achieved. The definition of occupant behaviour is however highly dependent on the context, and how to successfully develop behaviour change interventions is an open problem. This thesis specifically focuses on the ineffectiveness of Smart Meters based on visual feedback, analysing the reasons behind their faults and exploring alternative feedback methods based on sonic interactions. This work is an investigation of sonic interaction design methods for energy awareness, based on quantitative data analysis of real-world datasets of historical disaggregated energy consumption. The thesis is divided in two main sections, first energy consumption and emission data in households from Scotland and Sweden have been analysed with quantitative methods, with the aim of extracting knowledge about users´ energy consumption patterns. After the analysis, the problem has been approached from a Sonic Interaction Design point of view, with the aim of developing an alternative, sound-based design to provide feedback about some of the data usually accessed through Smart Meters. A sonic interaction design prototype has been built, using real-world data to simulate household consumption, emissions and energy sources. The final prototype is an energy-aware sonic carpet which provides real-time feedback on home electricity consumption and emissions through sound. An experiment has been designed to evaluate the prototype from a user experience perspective, and to assess how users understand the chosen sonifications.