The Power of Design: Product Innovation in Sustainable Energy Technologies

4.6 Conclusions

This chapter elaborated on the role of social interaction as a means to stimulate energy-efficient behavior. In light of the ongoing developments toward smart grids, people are supposed to become active participants in the management of (local) energy provision system. Whereas most past interventions aimed to stimulate energy-efficient behavior, these developments can particularly benefit from a social, community-based approach to stimulating behavior change so that residents are not only physically but also socially connected in the electricity provision grid. Community-based approaches have already shown their potential to leverage behavior change, but research about energy consumption behavior is dominated by individual approaches. This is reflected as well in design strategies aimed at stimulating pro-environmental behaviors.

The potential of knowing the consumption levels of neighbors, as a means of social influence, is highlighted in the design of OPOWER, which has delivered about 400 GWh of electricity in the United States (Lasky and Kavazovic, 2011) and provides descriptive social-normative messages as a central aspect of home energy reports. Further research about how design can contribute to social approaches toward facilitating energy-efficient behavior is required to support developments toward a smarter energy system and allow end users to be truly active participants in the management of supply and demand.