• Energy Research

We increasingly see smart energy technology moving into peoples’ homes, designed to support householders in strategically managing different forms of energy conservation. Often, design visions for such technologies assume householders will accept smart energy systems as long as the interaction remains effortless, efficient, and convenient. Likewise, developers rely on assumptions that smart energy technologies meeting such usability goals may urge householders to become active players in a future energy market. Yet, a growing body of HCI research illustrates that actively engaging people with sustainability issues through technology requires more than merely meeting usability goals. Against this backdrop, our study investigates the design vision of a cutting-edge home energy management system created as part of an EU project and householders’ expectations of it. Our findings highlight (mis)alignments that emerged from a questionnaire study with 167 households participating in a field trial of the developed technology. We use the insights to discuss the alignment of sustainable visions, HCI, and the design of future energy systems.

Within sustainable HCI research, we see a growing interest to study how designing interactive technology can improve the utilisation of renewable energy resources. In this case study, we explore the concept of energy communities and how technology can be designed to support people to cooperate around transitioning to a more sustainable use of electricity. To do so, we designed the Lumen prototype, which aims to support a small energy community in shifting domestic energy-consuming practices to align with times of high availability of sustainable energy. By creating awareness of current and future sustainable energy availability through an ambient feedback display, the Lumen prototype informs households about the community’s consumption patterns. To obtain insights into how people understand and experience an energy community, we conducted a qualitative field study with three Danish households. Through our study, we found sustainable awareness and incentives materialised in the ambient display were amplified by the dynamics of the community. We conclude by discussing future directions for exploring how to design technology for energy communities.

Electric stand-up scooters (e-scooters) are introduced in several cities worldwide, providing new means for people to travel around the city. While praised for their flexibility, e-scooters are also met with negative sentiments due to fatal accidents and chaotic parking. In this paper, we seek to understand the mobility of shared e-scooters and point to gaps in the user interaction between the digital and physical world. We carried out three data collections, including interviews, in situ observation, analysis of news media coverage. Our findings illustrate integration with alternate modes of transportation in urban context, and how technologies facilitate or hinder (micro-) mobility. We found that users of e-scooters primarily view these devices as an alternative to walking rather than other transportation forms. Additionally, we found that users’ and non-users’ needs, perspectives and experiences of e-scooters clash, in particular with regard to perceptions of sustainability. Based on these findings, we present three relevant perspectives of sustainability, extending the ongoing debate of sustainable HCI research. We contribute with an empirically supported understanding of the perception of mobility and sustainability for e-scooters in a Scandinavian urban context.

Driving an electric car relies on physical, digital, and human infrastructure. However, the charging infrastructure along with breakdowns and the work that people do to recover, that is, infrastructuring, remain understudied in HCI. In this paper, we present a study of 19 Danish electric car drivers and their infrastructuring to recover from breakdowns they encounter in charging their car in public. We describe the three most reoccurring types of infrastructuring with inherent breakdowns making charging infrastructure visible to the electric car driver: (1) Adjusting to conventions of parking, (2) Navigating the standards of charging services, and (3) Learning through community participation. Drawing upon the extant research, we discuss how our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the use of charging infrastructure and its implications for future research and design.

The global food system is a major contributor to environmental unsustainability partly due to the immense amount of energy that is consumed in product life cycles. Our endeavour with the present study was to gain insights about how people experience and reflect upon energy use embedded in the life cycle of grocery products. Based on a two-month mixed-methods study that encompassed interviews, technology probe deployment, and continuous surveys with eight participants, we identified characteristics of choices for high and low preference foods on sustainability; impacts of various abstractions of information; and challenges and opportunities for digital technology in grocery shopping. We discuss the findings in relation to the notion of value plurality and present design implications for food assistance systems in Sustainable HCI.

In this paper, we present an exploratory study of hygge as a low-energy design vision for the smart home. Hygge is a Danish concept that embodies aesthetic experiences related to conviviality, often shaped by orchestrating atmospheres through low-level lighting. To explore this vision, we probe two Australian households that already live with smart home lighting technology. We report on household reflections of embedding hygge into everyday life. We conclude by outlining future directions for exploring desirable and sustainable smart home visions.

Shifting is an energy-conserving interaction strategy for moving energy consumption to times where it is sustainably favorable. This interaction strategy is attracting increasing interest within sustainable HCI studies. While most of these consider how interactive technology can change household behavior, only a few report on how shifting is experienced in everyday life when assisted by automation. In this study, we investigate an interactive technology that assists households to shift electricity consumption to times when electricity is cheap or more sustainable. Our study was conducted as a long-term field deployment for 6--18 months with eight households, each living with an interactive prototype that shifts running times for a heat pump within user-defined boundaries. Our findings show that managing heat pumps toward assisted shifting was well-received by all households because it was a convenient way to shift electricity consumption. Shifting electricity use facilitated price savings of 6.8–16.9%. Nevertheless, our findings also reveal a conflict between the system design, and how householders actually interact with their heating system and experience assisted shifting. Based on the eight households’ experiences, we present three overall themes of convenience, control, and complexity that each describes different aspects of long-term real-life use of automatic technology assisting households to shift electricity use. We discuss the broader implications of these findings and the role of design and future sustainability technology in everyday life.

Within sustainable HCI research, we have witnessed a growing interest in studying interaction designs that support households to ‘shift’ energy usage to times when it is sustainably favourable. In this paper, we investigate shifting through a purposely provocative and scripted design, which challenges the idea that renewable electricity is an always- available resource for households to consume. To do so, we made electricity for washing laundry either free or not available. We conducted a detailed qualitative study with four families that experienced our intervention for a month. We present five themes that illustrate how families adapted, reflected, and formed new routines and expectations related to washing practices. We discuss the broader implications of combining scripting and provocation as a means to intervene, disrupt and understand energy consuming practices within the home.