Home energy dashboard: User interface design considerations

This paper includes our preliminary findings about user interface design of an interactive and engaging 'home energy dashboard' application to understand energy consumption and indoor environmental conditions while stimulating energy efficiency behaviour and learning to make smart choices. Social housing customers, a social housing provider and a UK energy supplier have been engaged from early in the project in order to shape the aims and co-design the energy dashboard. The project has deployed an energy and indoor health monitoring system in 19 UK houses which uses various internet technologies to connect end user through tablet devices. The application is part of an 18 months trial with social housing properties in the midlands of England, exploring their daily routines and interactions with the technology. Our analysis has shown that the application is very helpful to provide useful feedback which is clear and easy to understand. The experimental design was composed of 2D and 3D elements and feedback in the form of numbers, dials and colour coding was found useful to convey information while 3D and gamification elements such as achievements, goals and rewards were more suited to trigger excitement and motivation to learn from the system.