Abstract:
Paper power bills were the only way to monitor electricity consumption for decades. Information presented in paper bills might be easy to understand for some energy users but the same information can be hard to understand and interpret for other energy users. With today’s advanced computing power there should be a way to present the same information in a way that is easier to understand and interpret. The main objective of this thesis was to design and implement an interactive energy visualization that can visualize the electricity consumption of electricity consumers. The aim was to enhance electricity consumers’ awareness about their consumption and therefore engage them in consuming electricity more responsibly. To come up with design criteria a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted along with interviewing electricity consumers. User centered design was used to develop the visualization application based on the found criteria. To measure the effectiveness of the developed visualization, a usability evaluation study was conducted. Results from that study then helped to suggest refinements and further improve the visualization application. The initial interviews and later usability evaluations present evidence to suggest that one-fit-all designs of energy visualizations will not be as effective as separate designs for expert and non-expert end-user groups. The main contributions of this thesis includes: results of a SLR that inform about the state-of-research in the field; a set of design criteria for designing and developing effective and interactive energy visualization derived from the results of the SLR and from real end-users through the application of user-centered design; a set of functioning visualizations prototypes to suit the two category of users, i.e. basic and advanced views for non-experts and basic and advanced views for experts; and result of the usability study.