Studying the immediacy of eco-feedback through plug level consumption information

Abstract

This work is focused on studying the immediacy of eco-feedback and the appropriation of these systems in households' daily life. This paper describes the development of Wattapp, a common two spots wall socket redesigned to display the current consumption using a set of LED lights, which change from green to red according to the consumption. The device was evaluated for fifteen days in the cafeteria/lounge of a research institute and a subset of six users were interviewed to assess how Wattapp was perceived. In general, users understood the feedback. In addition, our evaluation disclosed how such device could be used in the day-to-day lives, for example, comparing the consumption of electrical devices or used to remotely control appliances.