Conceptualizing and changing energy usage by manifesting traces of use

Conceptualizing and changing energy usage by manifesting traces of use

Van 't Hof, J.

Vermeeren, A.P.O.S. (mentor)
Robbins, H.V. (mentor)
Hörmann, J. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Design for Interaction

2016-06-10

SCOPE: A disconnection between the production and consumption of energy use makes it difficult for people to engage with the technologies related to energy. This causes that users can only engage with technologies by consuming the functionalities related to them. This is what Borgmann has been defined as the ‘device paradigm’. The goal of this project was to disrupt the device paradigm and help people understand and change their energy consumption practices to stimulate energy conservation. METHOD:To achieve behavioural change, a practice as a unit of analysis approach has been applied during this project, with the goal to examine how current behaviours are situated in practices. This approach was supplemented by taking traces of use as a design strategy. Traces of use are able to visualise people’s engagement and performance with, in this case, energy technologies. DESIGN: AILA is a lamp that engages people in the generation and consumption of energy. AILA invites people to co-perform with technology: the user’s human power is transformed into electrical energy by means of a mechanical gear-system. AILA helps in understanding and changing people’s energy consumption behaviour by making energy visible and tangible. the lamp causes the user to become a co-performer of the practice, which stimulates the use of energy in a conscious way and thereby contributes to energy conservation. The energy is not instantaneous, the user is involved in sustaining the light. AILA provides the user with both immediate and instantaneous feedback. Brass layers, positioned on the interactive elements, will manifest traces of use. They represent, capture and communicate the user’s engagement with the technology are away of residual feedback.

traces of use
co-performing
behaviour change
energy conservation
social practice theory

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e94b1b36-7031-4f44-a906-2f415a647e96

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2016 Van 't Hof, J.