Smart energy products and services (SEPS) aim to contribute to sustainable energy use in residential homes. However, one of the barriers SEPS faces emerges from the lack of a user-centred approach, often not taken into account in its design and use.
Students of the University of Twente designed three different prototypes that are tested by residents at The Green Village. Based on both real-time data from smart meters and a simulated PV-system, the prototypes use Raspberry Pi computers to provide the user with insights such as energy use, the consumption and production ratio, or the total energy use per given period.
Besides quantitative data qualitative data is gathered through questionnaires and interviews to evaluate the user experience and to evaluate the impact of the prototypes on the energy consumption patterns. Hereby valuable insights can be gained to improve the design of SEPS in the future.
The work presented here is part of a thesis project for the M.Sc. Sustainable Energy Technology programme at the University of Twente
