Domestic microgeneration is the onsite generation of low- and zero-carbon heat and electricity by private households to meet their own needs. In this paper we explore how an everyday household routine – that of doing laundry – can be augmented by digital technologies to help households with photovoltaic solar energy generation to make better use of self-generated energy. This paper presents an 8-month in-the-wild study that involved 18 UK households in longitudinal energy data collection, prototype deployment and participatory data analysis. Through a series of technology interventions mixing energy feedback, proactive suggestions and direct control the study uncovered opportunities, potential rewards and barriers for families to shift energy consuming household activities and highlights how digital technology can act as mediator between household laundry routines and energy demand-shifting behaviors. Finally, the study provides insights into how a “smart” energy-aware washing machine shapes organization of domestic life and how people “communicate” with their washing machine.
https://doi.org/10.1145/2632048.2632106
Cite Bibtex
@inproceedings{10.1145/2632048.2632106,
author = {Bourgeois, Jacky and van der Linden, Janet and Kortuem, Gerd and Price, Blaine A. and Rimmer, Christopher},
title = {Conversations with My Washing Machine: An in-the-Wild Study of Demand Shifting with Self-Generated Energy},
year = {2014},
isbn = {9781450329682},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/2632048.2632106},
doi = {10.1145/2632048.2632106},
abstract = {Domestic microgeneration is the onsite generation of low- and zero-carbon heat and
electricity by private households to meet their own needs. In this paper we explore
how an everyday household routine -- that of doing laundry -- can be augmented by
digital technologies to help households with photovoltaic solar energy generation
to make better use of self-generated energy. This paper presents an 8-month in-the-wild
study that involved 18 UK households in longitudinal energy data collection, prototype
deployment and participatory data analysis. Through a series of technology interventions
mixing energy feedback, proactive suggestions and direct control the study uncovered
opportunities, potential rewards and barriers for families to shift energy consuming
household activities and highlights how digital technology can act as mediator between
household laundry routines and energy demand-shifting behaviors. Finally, the study
provides insights into how a "smart" energy-aware washing machine shapes organization
of domestic life and how people "communicate" with their washing machine.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing},
pages = {459–470},
numpages = {12},
keywords = {domestic computing, microgeneration, user studies, sustainability},
location = {Seattle, Washington},
series = {UbiComp '14}
}