Achieving these aims
requires a multi-disciplinary approach to research. Experts in the fields of
Psychology offer insight into how new technologies might motivate and sustain
energy-saving behaviour, how information and marketing of energy interacts with
consumer attitudes, and how an increasing social awareness of and
responsibility for consumption might affect social relationships. Computer
Scientists provide vital knowledge on what must be developed to leverage the
data that will be generated by Smart Meters (and other future Grid
technologies), to deliver the valuable products and services that will be
driven by that data to the consumer. In conjunction, Horizon energy researchers
have a collective ability to develop new technologies, rigorously examine their
effects in controlled conditions, and to deploy and study their use in the real
world; this is key to providing rapid, significant contributions to the
time-critical issues of energy security and climate change.
The research aims to:
- Discover similarities between domestic energy users and classifying these similar groups in meaningful ways
- Develop future scenarios for Demand Side Management and a set of integrated systems models.
- Discover how and why people are (or aren’t) impacted by energy monitoring
- Explore the ways in which technologies can be designed and employed to raise awareness of energy consumption and its social, financial and environmental impact
C-Aware explores what new products and services could be built to
provide consumers with an understanding of the social, financial and
environmental context in which they use energy, aiming to encourage more
informed choices about how to manage energy consumption. Horizon is
leading this process by involving consumers (both domestic and
commercial) in the design and evaluation of a range of prototypes.
We use participatory design to spark discussions around key topical
issues such as whether making energy consumption data public is an
effective, ethical motivator. Researchers with backgrounds in Psychology
are also focusing on using a range of studies to determine whether
consumers understand concepts such as kilowatt-hours or the effects of
carbon emissions, and how consumers are affected by the framing of
consumption in different ways.
These questions ask not only whether new technologies are
academically interesting, but also whether – as interventions into the
daily lives of consumers – they will be embraced, or rejected.
Green nudges from Yellow Frog on Vimeo.
Broadcast by France 24