Power down : analyzing eff ectiveness of diff erent feedback techniques towards reducing energy consumption for dormitory residents

Abstract

Energy has become basis of human life today. Practically, we rely on energy for everything we do every single day. As a result, the rate of consumption of energy has increased manifold and thereby has become a global problem. Recent research work has explored solutions to address the problem of increased energy consumption by providing e cient feedback about consumption patterns to individuals so as to motivate them to alter the activities performed as personal choices within the built environment. Prior studies indicate that University Residential environment provide an excellent venue to explore di erent feedback mechanisms for energy consumption. However, majority of the studies, typically done in the developed world, have conducted competitions as approach to study and alter the behavior of Dormitory residents. Our work contributes to the understanding of feedback mechanisms, in a developing economy, through ten week study that we term as \Power Down". The goal of the study was to analyze how di erent approaches in uence and alter the behavior of dormitory residents to reduce energy consumption in a university residential settings. The study involved ve di erent phases, each spanning a duration of 2 weeks Phase-1: General Awareness Phase-2: Comparing individual and generalized feedback Phase-3: Online Feedback Phase-4: Competition Phase Phase-5: Post-Competition Phase. During each phase, real time energy consumption data was collected for the participating group of students using electricity meters installed at the wing level. We believe this is the rst such study, done in the context of developing country, that performs in-depth assessment of e ectiveness of di erent feedback approaches towards motivating the dormitory residents in reducing their energy consumption.