Lessons in engaging building users Dr. Richard Bull
Nov 12, 2014
Lessons in engaging building usersDr. Richard Bull
The
invi
sibi
lity
of e
nerg
y
By its nature, ‘energy’ is an abstract and invisible force that is conceptualised or commonly defined in a number of different ways, for example as a commodity, as a social necessity, as an ecological resource, or as a strategic material.*
* Burgess & Nye (2008), Re-material is ing energy use through transparent monitor ing systems, Energy Policy
BEYOND INFORMATION PROVISION
• There is a need for a different approach- recognising the complexity of user perceptions and understandings (Niemeyer, Petts et al. 2005);
• Combining a bottom-up and top-down approach in order to minimise mixed messages (Owens 2000);
• The value of public engagement (Burgess and Clark 2009; Ockwell, Whitmarsh et al. 2009).
• The importance of context.
Aim: To understand the role of ICT in reducing energy consumption of a large scale public building through the design of an ICT interface connecting building users to their electricity consumption.
duall
greenviewAim: To design a smart phone and web based application enabling building users to understand the energy consumption of the buildings across DMU.
Two Greening ICT projects
Duall 1)
2)
3)
TWO CHALLENGES
1) Creative visualisations 2) Meaningful data
CREATIVE VISUALISATION
Healthy buildings = happy animals
WHAT IS NORMAL?• Consumption (and normality) is dependent on ‘time of week’• Most weeks are similar but all weeks are different• It is possible to create a normal weekly profile
QUANTIFYING ENERGY PERFORMANCE
• A building is happy when consumption is in the green zone• A building is neutral when consumption is in the yellow zone• A building is sad when consumption is in the red zone
LESSONS LEARNT• Engaging users (findings from DUALL):
– Difficult to engage already busy staff – Even harder to get on-line engagement
• Evaluation: – Attributing behaviour change to such an intervention like Greenview is problematic
(nb. picking up small changes, & issue of occupancy for example)– Without senior commitment and sincere staff engagement and collaboration mere
information provision in the form of dashboards is impotent.
• Creative, but not too creative!– Users still found numerical and easily understood representations of energy useful –
especially in a Technology/Engineering building– Users wanted guidance for users to help them behave differently with regard to
energy use (need for information provision). – People want to compete!
WHAT’S NEXT?• Exploring the potential of social media in energy management:
Gooddee2ds: http://greenview.dmu.ac.uk/good-deeds • Exploring energy dashboards at a European level: Smartspaces: http://
smartspaces.dmu.ac.uk & http://www.smartspaces.eu/home/ • Exploring energy dashboards and competition in University of Halls of
Residence (IEE proposal with NUS).
FURTHER READING
• Brown, Bull et al (2012) Novel Instrumentation for Monitoring After-Hours Electricity Consumption of Electrical Equipment, Energy and Buildings 47, p74-83.
• Bull, R., Brown N., & Faruk, F. (2011) Findings from the DUALL Project: lessons in engaging building users in energy reduction in a UK University. ECEEE 2011 Summer Study: Energy efficiency first: The foundation of a low-carbon society.
• Bull, R. Everitt, D., Stuart, G., Rieser, M. (2012) The Gorilla in the Library: Lessons in using ICT to engage building users in energy reduction. Conference Proceedings from the second Digital Economy ‘All Hands’ conference in Aberdeen, October 2012.
• Bull, R., Irvine, K., Rieser, M., Fleming, P (2013). Are people the problem or the solution? A critical look at the rise of the smart/intelligent building and the role of ICT enabled engagement. ECEEE Summer Study Conference Proceedings 2013, pp. 1135-1145; 5A-079-13
• Stuart, G., Wilson, C., Bull, R. and Irvine, K. (2013) Designing live energy performance feedback for public buildings in Leicester. ECEEE Summer Study Proceedings, 3-257-13