A mouse over a hotspot survey: An exploration of perceptions of electricity consumption and patterns of indecision

Abstract

In order to promote a more effective understanding of electricity consumption in households, and leverage the potential of current and future energy conservation initiatives, we have developed an online survey in which visual icons of various electrical devices coupled with a Likert scale are used to investigate people's perception of the amount of electricity consumed by a variety of individual domestic appliances. In this paper we present initial results from a pilot study conducted with 293 participants from over 50 countries and outline our plans for future work. Our initial results suggest that despite a considerable number of respondents was able to give the correct answers, many others seem to lack an understanding of appliance electricity consumption, and thus further work should be carried in this direction.