An Exploration into Framing Effects and Information Preferences: Implications for the Design of Energy Feedback Interfaces

A recent topic in the energy industry involves developing strategies to reduce the necessary peak production capacity of our future electricity infrastructure. One of these strategies is promoting behavioral change among individual energy consumers. An inherent problem with electricity consumption is that electricity is invisible, intangible, and abstract. Interfaces that provide people with useful feedback on their usage can help with understanding and reduction of consumption. These interfaces intend to empower individuals with ability to adopt less wasteful energy consumption behaviors. Skillful HCI design will include attention to informational preferences, and framing effects due to presentation choices. An online questionnaire was utilized to explore this domain, and the results identified design requirements for a home feedback interface. The final dataset contained responses from 36 male and 49 female United States residents. Cost (...