i. Project brief
Energy waste is an issue of considerable size. Not only at home, but more increasingly so in public spaces. The TU Delft has set itself a number of sizable energy saving goals for the near future, but with current initiatives focusing mostly on efficiency and responsible sourcing, not much is being done about altering the demand for energy. In this thesis I will set out to design a solution that targets the energy problem from a behavior change perspective.
The project brief of this graduation thesis comes forth from a design challenge formulated by Gert Jan de Werk for students participating in the D-exto summer programme. The assignment was to create an iconic, TU Delft relevant installation that could show occupants of a building the current state of energy use in a supply and demand form. The goal of this installation is to create an awareness of the amount of energy that is being used and the portion that is used efficiently. The ICON, as it was called was meant to communicate the goals of the TU Delft with respect to sustainability and energy use while simultaneously showcasing the state of the art in technology.
The project was picked up as a part of Jantien Doolaard’s (former IDE student) work on improving energy behavior at IDE. In collaboration with a group of students from the "Sustainable Innovation in Practice" course at TPM (faculty of Technology, Policy and Management), first steps were made towards realizing this "energy icon". However, being part of a much larger, mainly research based project, the final deliverable was far from production-ready. A demand remained for the further development of the installation and this is where my project took off.
In my research I will explore how tangible and non tangible interactions with an installation can be used to alter people’s energy saving behavior. Contextual research provided by Doolaard provides a solid base for a complete redesign of the ICON using social and persuasive design.
ii. D-exto
This project has two stakeholders, the first of which being D-exto. D-exto is short for "Delft experience tomorrow" and is a joint venture between the TU Delft, inHolland and the Haagsche hogeschool that aims to promote sustainable technology that is being developed at both schools. Each year a group of HBO, WO bachelor, master and PhD students are given the opportunity to present their work in a zero-footprint pavilion that was specifically designed for this purpose. Initially designed for the Mekelpark at TU Delft, the pavilion now also travels to a number of summer festivals hoping to reach a larger audience. Through this showcase, D-exto hopes to show that sustainability is easy, fun and pragmatic.
D-exto believes that festivals are the ideal playground for product and service development since they represent a complete self sufficient mini society. Examples of projects currently included in the showcase include Kartent (a fully recyclable cardboard tent), the energy playground (playground apparatus that converts play into mechanical energy) and Blenderbikes (bikes that power a smoothie blender). (D-exto, 2015)
D-exto gave me the opportunity to present my project at a twofold of festivals (A Day of Wonder and Welcome to the village) where co-creation, prototyping and user testing was done. As mentioned, the ICON project was kicked off as a D-exto project and an interest for showcasing it as a part of the pavilion still remains.
iii. IDStudioLab
The second stakeholder in this project is IDStudioLab at IDE. IDStudiolab is a design- research community located in the IDE building consisting of a mix between PhD researchers, graduate students, professors and other staff. The main focus of research that takes place in IDStudioLab is experience centered design and design driven research and education. IDStudiolab has provided me with the guidance team for this project in the form of Tomasz Jaskiewicz and Aadjan van der Helm and holds an interest in the outcome of the project hoping to implement the solution that comes forth.
IDStudioLab kindly provided me with a workplace in one of the studios, exposing me to a wealth of interesting research directions, methodologies and people. The studio also houses a maker lab which I used to my advantage while prototyping electronics and other designs. (IDStudiolab, 2015)
The IDStudiolab has greatly shaped me as a designer throughout my education at IDE, with courses like Interactive Technology Design, Interaction and Electronics and the interactive Environments minor being counted among my most influential courses. I strongly believe in the added value of rapid prototyping and user testing through experiential prototypes.
iv. The ICON
The ICON installation is an installation that will to be placed at the entrance of the IDE building. The ICON is intended to replace the Lampan92 installation created by Walter Aprile, Aadjan van der Helm and Rob Luxen, that currently resides in this location. The ICON, as is, is a concept presented by Jantien Doolaard in her graduation thesis.
The interactive installation that Doolaard designed consists of a large suspended lamp made up of different "icicle" elements. These icicle shaped plexiglass objects refer metaphorically to the torch in the TU Delft logo. Each icicle is lit up by an addressable RGB LED strip that reacts to the current state of energy use in the IDE building.
In the middle of the suspended elements, a projector is hidden. This projector is used to make the installation informative and interactive. A memory game is projected on the floor beneath the installation with which users can interact by motion sensing (using a Kinect camera). The game is meant to encourage multiple player participation and social engagement while informing the user about sustainability issues. In addition to the projector, the installation also makes use of a screen that displays an after message about the TU Delft’s energy saving goals once the game is complete. (Doolaard, 2015)
Following this, it is logical that we need to look for energy alternatives in the future, whether it be to avoid an energy crisis when fuels deplete or, for the more altruistic people among us, to save ourselves, our planet and environment. We must start thinking about our own future and that of generations to come, as we are worsening the energy problem an alarming rate.
iii. How can we save energy?
There are three main ways to realize energy savings according to the Trias energitica model proposed by Duijvesteijn (Duijvesteijn, 1996) First and foremost efficiency is an important focus in reducing the amount of energy we consume. With the evolution of technology we are able to accomplish more with less, appliances we use consume less and less energy. As an example: "cars made today go a lot more miles on the same amount of gas than they did 20 years ago. When more useful energy is extracted from a system, less waste results. From the first steam engines to today’s best gas turbines, efficiency in energy use has increased 50 fold, while the amount of carbon in the world’s energy mix has declined at an average annual rate of 0.3 percent" (Classroom Energy, 2015)
The second point in the model focuses on responsible generation and the sources of energy. Instead of extracting power from harmful and depletable sources, renewable or green energy is created from sources that are not damaging to the environment. These energy sources often take advantage of natural energy streams like heat radiation, wind or water flow. Using a turbine ,for example, we can harness this power and use it as an alternative to fossil fuels.
However, the simplest and least taxing way to save energy, is to alter human behaviour. One of the best ways to accomplish savings is simply by consuming less. According to research done by (WBCSD ,2009) wasteful behavior accounts for 30% of total usage. In an ideal situation this would be our margin for improvement if targeting behavior solely. Simply getting people to switch off lights, unplug appliances and not open windows while the air conditioning is running can have a drastic effect on consumption
So why is this growing?
In public space there is no such thing as ownership of energy. Energy consumed is generally paid for by the owner of the space. Funding through grants, membership fees, earnings or tuition fees takes care of costs, regardless of how much energy any individual uses. This generally results in careless consumption. In addition to this, a higher demand for flexible working hours has contributed to longer opening hours and increased demands for comfort (Pérez-Lombard et al. , 2008)
How is energy consumed?
Independent of sector, energy is mostly used to create comfortable working and living spaces. Climate control and lighting take up the largest part of consumption in both cases. The rest is divided up between use of appliances and other destinations (see fig. 8&9).
5% Dishwasher 5% Washing machine
7% Tumble dryer 3% Vacuum cleaner
3% Fridge
5% Freezer
9% TV 6% Audio/video
Figure 8&9: (Left) Chart showing breakdown of energy use in Dutch homes (Right) Chart showing breakdown of energy use in public sector buildings
What are we doing about it now?
Domestic Users in the home have access to a number of relatively low investment solutions to target their high energy consumption. Energy management kits are becoming more common as smart meters are being installed by a growing number of energy suppliers. Smart thermostats, plugs, sensor switches are almost ubiquitous nowadays. (Rijksoverheid, 2013)
Public space Traditionally, savings in the public space were very focused on efficiency. Owner driven changes like switching an entire building to incandescent light are means to make the overall functioning of a building cheaper. Lately, monitoring systems are becoming more and more common, but represent a significant investment and upgrade to the available energy grid. Smart systems like automatic shutoffs and sensing equipment is also being put into place more and more often but, like monitoring systems require alterations to existing grid and investments.(Energy star, 2015) Little is being done to target the users of the buildings directly, which is why this project was started.
vi. Energy monitoring at TU Delft
The TU Delft campus is built up of a number of different buildings dating from different years and eras. IDE was built in 2000 and is relatively young as compared to other buildings such as 3ME (Architectuurgids Delft, 2015). The energy network currently installed and used at IDE is an "old fashioned" AC network. This type of network is the most common around the world as AC traditionally had clear advantages over DC power distribution in terms of energy losses over long distances (Faulkner, 2013). Monitoring of energy use is currently only being done at the transformers entering the building. Specifications per space or group are not currently being made. So how do we currently gather data about energy usage and who is doing it ?
Energy monitor
The energy monitor gives an overview of the total energy that is being used by each building on the TU Delft campus. Energy monitor is an initiative by FMVG, better known as facility management. This system is updated monthly and gives a good overall view of the amount of energy that is consumed throughout the TU Delft campus with a specification per building. The system is very basic and relies on manual recording and entry of meters. (Energy monitor, 2013)
Figure 11: A screenshot of the TU Delft energy monitor web application.
SusLab
SusLab is a research group spread over four countries. The goal of suslab is to "test methodologies that aim to promote sustainability and quality of living. The focus is on the underlying energy consumption and indoor climate regulation influenced by the behaviour of people." SusLab has developed the sensor-kit that can monitor energy use of specific appliances in the form of plugs. Also SusLab developed the comfort dial, a device which aims to gather subjective data in the same areas the sensor-kit is used. The combination of these two technologies should give insights into the optimal balance between comfort and energy use required to create a climate. (SusLab, 2015)
vii. Specific energy use at IDE
We now have a clear image of what energy is, how we use it in general, how we use it at Home and in public space, what is happening to both situations, what the TU Delft is doing about it specifically and what means we have to monitor it. I would now like to zoom in on specific energy behavior at IDE. Doolaard spent her graduation project investigating this phenomenon and drew a number of very interesting and relevant conclusions.
In her graduation work, a number of experiments were carried out to investigate specific energy use at IDE. Through internal and external research Doolard was able to sketch an image of the current state and distill actionable points that can be targeted in order to reduce the wasteful behavior of building occupants.
Using the comfort dial and sensor kit equipment developed by SusLab a number of students and employees were monitored in their daily energy use behavior. Social research was carried out using questionnaires and interviews, in which behavioral patterns were explored and causes for behavior were investigated.
A specific break down of energy use within the IDE building was attempted, however, it was found that without proper measuring systems implemented in the power network, this is very hard to achieve. An estimation based on research was made as can be seen below.
Following these activities a number of wasteful behaviors became apparent, and reasons for energy wasting behavior or carelessness emerged. The following list describes the main target behaviors that cause energy waste according to Doolaard’s thesis:
1. Energy is an intangible good, users don’t notice it
2. Occupants don’t pay the bills, there is no ownership
3. People are too lazy to do something about energy waste
4. People feel the need for energy waste to sustain productivity
5. People don’t know what to improve on to waste less energy
6. People are completely unaware of the TUDelft’s saving goals
7. There is no energy saving culture
Found behaviors resulted in the creation of the "Delft Energy Network". The Delft Energy Network consists of five separate solutions and an implementation scheme. All solutions were tested and evaluated and presented as a complete package to reduce the energy footprint of the IDE building. Low tech "Nudges" were used to target specific wasteful behaviors, the "energy icon" functioned as an installation that raised awareness about TU Delft goals and current situation, an interactive cube that translated CO2 to daily practices and a social glue was meant to engage users socially in order to create an energy culture. (Doolaard, 2015)
viii. Conclusion
While our home energy situation is currently improving tremendously, our public spaces are really lagging behind in terms of improving energy consumption awareness There really is only so much we can do through advances in efficiency and better energy sourcing. Behavior is a very serious third factor in consumption that we must begin to target in this public space context. With increasing flexibility of working hours and a higher demand for productivity than ever, behavior will become an increasingly important factor in achieving energy savings. But it is a difficult target, as incentives are hard to find and people generally do not feel responsible for their use… If they notice it at all.
Currently the TU Delft is working hard at completing a set of ambitious energy reduction goals, but is still very far from accomplishing them. Now roughly a quarter of the way towards completing any which one, the university needs to shift into a higher gear to reach their goals in the allotted time. The main focus of efforts are currently on efficiency and sourcing, but behavior falls out of the picture almost entirely. While there are many sustainability initiatives campus-wide, the TU Delft remains very tech focused. Perhaps a good time to shift focus?
There are many other opportunities that present themselves from this research. Developments in clean technology, power grids and sensing technology can all be harnessed to accelerate the improvements the TU Delft wants to make. However, It was found that getting a good personal specification in measuring power will be very hard in the current situation, and is maybe something that is not worth pursuing for this project. The AC network will require an immense amount of alteration and investment to be able to get information about energy use on a personal level.
But one should not underestimate the power of more basic solutions. We need to raise awareness, we need to let people realize that their attitude is wrong and that they CAN actually make a difference together. We need to stimulate the energy culture at IDE.