Energy personas in Danish households

TL;DR

This paper explores how Danish households use real-time renewable energy monitoring technologies, deriving four personas to inform future energy technology design and improve user engagement during Denmark's green transition.

Contribution

It introduces four distinct energy monitoring personas based on household practices, enhancing understanding for designing user-centered renewable energy technologies.

Findings

Identified four household personas: dedicated, organised, sporadic, and convenient.

Highlighted differences in energy monitoring practices and engagement levels.

Provided insights to improve future energy technology design for households.

Abstract

Technologies to monitor the provision of renewable energy are part of emerging technologies to help address the discrepancy between renewable energy production and its related usage in households. This paper presents various ways householders use a technological artifact for the real-time monitoring of renewable energy provision. Such a monitoring thus affords householders with an opportunity to adjust their energy consumption according to renewable energy provision. In Denmark, Ewii, previously Barry, is a Danish energy supplier which provides householders with an opportunity to monitor energy sources in real time through a technological solution of the same name. This paper use provision afforded by Ewii as a case for exploring how householders organize themselves to use a technological artefact that supports the monitoring of energy and its related usage. This study aims to inform technology design through the derivation of four personas. The derived personas highlight the differences in energy monitoring practices for the householders and their engagement. These personas are characterised as dedicated, organised, sporadic, and convenient. Understanding these differences in energy monitoring practice using the technological artefact form a solid element in the design of future energy technologies that interfere with the everyday practices and energy consumption for households. This is paramount for future energy related technology design, and for the clarification of usage assumptions that are embedded in the rollout of energy related technology as a country such as Denmark moves through its green transition.