ICS Professor and CSDL Director Philip Johnson has been awarded a 3 year, $381,000
grant from the National Science Foundation to support research on how
information technology can help people to make sustained, positive
changes to their energy behaviors.
Award abstract:
This project is designed to support the "Smart Grid," a new vision for the
electrical infrastructure of the United States, whose goals include more
active participation by consumers, new generation and storage options
including renewable energy, and new products, services, and markets. To
accomplish this, the research will develop a collection of open source
components called WattBlocks, which will provide novel and useful
scientific infrastructure for investigating the ways in which
energy-related information can affect human behavior. The project will
also develop eSpheres, a novel social networking application that provides
users with access to energy-related communities at configurable levels of
scale. The combination of WattBlocks and eSpheres will lower the
technological efforts required for empirical, replicable studies of human
energy-related behaviors. The project will use this infrastructure in a
series of two case studies, one involving campus dormitory energy
competitions and one involving community home energy challenges.
To reach its full potential, the Smart Grid must provide information to
consumers in a way that enables positive, sustained changes to
energy-related behaviors. The central question to be pursued in this
research is: What kinds of information, provided in what ways and at what
times, enables consumers to make positive, sustained changes to their
energy consumption behaviors? Prior research indicates that such changes
can potentially be motivated by an appropriate combination of personalized
information, general and specific commitments, achievable goals, social
reinforcement, feedback, and financial incentives.
The project will investigate a number of important research questions,
including: (1) What are the requirements for consumer-facing, open source,
scientific energy information infrastructure? (2) What are the strengths
and weaknesses of a dedicated social network technology like eSpheres for
energy behavior change? (3) What combination of behavioral change
motivators, under what conditions, induce positive change? (4) What
factors influence the sustainability of these changes? (5) What is the
influence of energy data feedback latency (i.e. 1 minute, 15 minutes, 1
hour, 1 day) on behavioral change?
This project will serve underrepresented populations, as the University of
Hawaii is in an EPSCOR state. Approximately 84% of undergraduates at the
University of Hawaii are minorities. WattBlocks and eSpheres will be
released as open source software, providing new and useful infrastructure
for others interested in investigating energy-related human behavior.
Finally, the resulting insights can inform the design of consumer-facing
Smart Grid information systems, with potentially significant cost-saving
or service benefits for the U.S. population.
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