User-centred design and evaluation of EnergyCoach - an interactive energy service for households

The article presents a case study of a user-centred design process of an energy service to be used by households. This case study is used to explore the nature of participation of users in the design process. The purpose of the design was to create a prototype for an IT-based service to facilitate for households to learn about their electricity consumption and implicitly to reduce it. By applying methods from human-computer interaction (HCI) throughout the design process, we designed the digital prototype EnergyCoach. The final prototype of EnergyCoach is structured to visualise electricity consumption in households and to coach members of the household in learning about, and reducing their own consumption. The service is mediated through a combination of a web-based platform and one for the mobile phone. EnergyCoach was tested and evaluated in its intended context. Qualitative interviews were carried out with six households who tested the service for six months in their home environment. Results reveal that although the design of EnergyCoach was appreciated and the service as such considered useful, informants varied in how frequently they used it. Reasons to this are discussed and related to methods for early and later phases of the design process.