DIVVY

A system which tracks individual’s energy consumption in a shared household.

About

A 7 months project as part of my final year design project. The brief was to help reduce student’s energy consumption and their relating habits.

Divvy is system which automatically tracks individuals energy consumption within a shared student house and depicts it in a physical manner by combining data from different sensors and using machine learning to distinguish different tenant’s energy consumption so they will only pay for what they use.

Service Design

A persona of the ideal user was created . An empathy scenario map was then used to further understand the user’s task, what they are thinking and how they are feeling in the current situation. From that the pain points were identified and categorised into groups. Needs statements were then created under those groups and were then used to list out the key product features which must be satisfied in order to solve the pain points.

After that a stakeholder map was done to identify different types of interactions between different people and how the service can fit into that system.

Key Features

Trust:
- Users need near instantaneous feedback so they can trust that their actions as well as others are being correctly and accurately logged.
- Anti-cheating mechanisms must be in placed so that users can trust the system as well as their cohabitants.
Be Active Not Reactive:
- System needs to predict user’s actions to give them contextual and relevant tips for real savings.
Context and Lack of Understanding:
- Shows consumption in £ or understandable terms
- Put their usage into context by comparing with meaningful and relevant stakeholders
- Conceptual model of user’s usage to reflect their consumption and impact in a global scale
Hassle Free and Access:
- Digital touch points on mobile app.
- Physical touch point in high consumption area.

Business Model and Circular Economy

Users would sign up to the service as a house then pay a deposit for the system which will be mailed to them. Individually, each tenant will pay for their own energy consumption as tracked by the system through this service. Partnering up with utility companies allows zero costs on the users. At the end of their tenancy, the user ships the system back and deposit will be returned to them.