sustain

Anton Gustafsson and Magnus Gyllenswärd from the Interactive Institute in Sweden created the “Power-Aware Cord” to display information about energy usage through the cord itself. From the CHI2005 paper abstract:

The ‘Power-Aware Cord’ is a re-design of a common electrical power strip that displays the amount of energy passing through it at any given moment. This is done by dynamic glowing patterns produced by electroluminescent wires molded into the transparent electrical cord. Using this fully functional prototype, we have been investigating how such ambient displays can be used to increase energy awareness. An initial user study indicates that the Power-Aware Cord is a very accessible and intuitive mean for better understanding energy consumption. Future work includes further development of the mapping between load and visual pattern and in-depth studies of user perception and learning over time.

Three things strike me as most interesting about the “Power-Aware Cord.” First, as the authors themselves point out, the user interface is the same as for any ordinary electrical power strip, but augmented with a dynamic visualization that reveals the current use of electricity via glowing pulses, flow and intensity of light. Second, unlike most feedback technology for the home, the “Power-Aware Cord” is highly localized–at the power outlet–so, although multiple cords would be required to fully instrument the home, one quickly gets a sense of what appliances are the most power hungry. Finally, the authors argue that “using light is a more natural and intuitive way of symbolizing energy than Watts on a numerical display.” However, there is no reason to use one exclusively over the other–as I’ve indicated before, people tend to react emotionally to abstract displays (and abstract displays can be designed for engagement); however, many people also want to know quantitative measures so that they can see how well they are performing (e.g., saving energy).

Related posts:

1. Flowers as Tangible Ambient Displays for Home Energy Feedback
2. Nuage Vert, Largescale Energy Ambient Display
3. A Taxonomy of Ambient Information Systems: Four Patterns of Design
4. Between Aesthetics and Utility : Designing Ambient Information Visualization
5. Real-Time Energy Displays: The Lifecycle of Usefulness

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 7th, 2008 at 9:06 pm and is filed under Ambient Displays, Feedback Technology, Home Energy Feedback, Sensing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.