Making Energy Feedback Understandable

Abstract

In this chapter several aspects in the design of home energy feedback are discussed along with the presentation of energy feedback design examples. The examples include the Ampul interface that was tested in the SusLab Concept House. Ampul was designed to enable users to maximize the use of available solar energy. A second example referenced is an aquarium metaphor in which plant, water and fish qualities are coupled to energy consumption and climate sensor data, which was developed as a demonstration and thirdly Powercord is described as an interface able to translate energy consumption into auditory sounds.