Energy Use Monitor

Collaborators: Ken Camarata, Ellen Yi-Luen Do

energy_cube_1a energy_magnets

Our students designed two prototype ambient displays that bring energy usage display indoors, break the information into understandable parts, and are easy to read. Energy Cube, maps household zones to the faces of a cube. Rotating the cube such that the zone of interest is on the top face sets it to display energy use for that zone. The color of the glowing cube indicates current use compared to the average use in other zones. As the color of the cube shifts from blue to red the homeowner becomes aware of energy use in the currently selected zone. Energy Magnet, allows the homeowner to easily configure the information being displayed with physical icons in the form of refrigerator magnets that represent household appliances and a display board. Placing a magnetic icon onto the board triggers a nearby bar graph to display the related appliance’s energy consumption.

2004 Artifacts for Displaying Home Energy Use, K. Camarata, D. Bregel, E. Y-L. Do, M.. Gross, in Proceedings on CD ROM, Generative Computer Aided Design Systems conference, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh July 11-14 [pdf]