What if we use the "What if" Approach for Eco-Feedback? Designing an Electricity Consumption Analysis for Layman Users

International audienceMany households share the objective of reducing electricity consumption for either economic or ecological motivations. Eco-feedback technologies support this objective by providing users with a visualization of their consumption. However as pointed out by several studies, users encounter difficulties in finding concrete actions to reduce their consumption. To overcome this limitation, we introduce in this paper Activelec, a system based on the visualization and interaction with user's behavior rather than raw consumption data. The user's behavior is modeled as the set of actions modifying the state of appliances over time. A key novelty of our solution is its focus on the What if approach applied to eco-feedback. Users can analyze and experiment scenarios by selecting and modifying their usage of electrical appliances over time and visualize the impact on the consumption. We conduct two user studies that evaluate the usability of Activelec and the relevance of the What if approach for electricity consumption. Our results show that users understand the interaction paradigm and can easily find relevant modifications in their usage of appliances. Moreover participants judge these changes of behavior would require little effort to be adopted. Therefore our work opens new perspectives on using the What if approach in the context of eco-feedback technology

Evaluation in-situ d'une approche "What if" pour l'eco-feedback

International audienceDecreasing electricity consumption is a major challenge of our society. Eco-feedback methods allow users to get information about their electricity consumption to reduce it. However it is still difficult to determine what are the actions that impact the consumption in practice. In this paper we suggest to apply a What if approach to eco-feedback in a household context. We deploy the Activelec system in personal housings, which allows to apply virtual modifications in appliances usage and to evaluate the savings realized. The results of our experimentation show that participants appreciated the interaction method based on the What if. It allowed them to find and to evaluate efficient modifications in their appliances usage, and several have been applied in practice by the participants. This experimentation shows that the What if paradigm is a potential way for eco-feedback technologies.Réduire la consommation d’électricité est un enjeu majeur de notre société. Les méthodes eco-feedback permettent aux utilisateurs d’obtenir un retour sur leur consommation d’électricité afin de la diminuer. Toutefois, il est toujours difficile de déterminer concrètement quelles actions impactent la consommation. Dans cet article, nous proposons d’appliquer une méthode What if à l’eco-feedback en contexte domestique. Nous déployons le système Activelec dans des logements personnels, qui permet d’appliquer des changements virtuels dans l’utilisation des appareils et d’évaluer les économies réalisées. Les résultats de notre expérimentation montrent que les participants ont apprécié la méthode d’interaction basée sur le What if. Celle-ci leur a permis de trouver et d’évaluer des modifications efficaces dans l’utilisation de leurs appareils, et certaines ont été appliquées en pratique par les participants. Cette expérimentation montre que le paradigme What if est une piste potentielle pour les technologies eco-feedback