Transforming people's energy conservation habits

What is the problem?

• Utility bills lack detailed information, providing only usage and cost figures, leaving consumers in the dark about specific energy-saving opportunities.
• Current solutions, like smart home devices, focus on remote control and automation but lack crucial data on monthly spending, estimated bills, and energy reduction tips.
• Consumers face a guessing game in identifying heavy energy users and resort to broad measures to cut consumption.

‍

How are we solving it? — Let's go through the process...

Understanding consumer attitudes and needs

1/ User Survey

The first step was to analyze the competitors and get familiar with the existing Home Energy products, their pros and cons, and user’s reviews. We conducted a Google form survey among 28 people and gathered some insights.

The survey covers awareness, satisfaction, and behaviors related to energy conservation, delving into tracking habits, device usage, and potential interest in an app for monitoring energy consumption and desired features for an intelligent energy monitoring product.

During the research, we found out that almost 47% people are not satisfied with their current power consumption and the cost generated at the end of the month.

Around 80% people do not have any means to check the energy consumption of their devices. This is our main focus group and we need to help them through this app.

We also notificed that a large percentage of people often forget to turn off the appliances. They have agreed that if they forget to turn of a device with the highest power consumption and leave for work, they can’t help and this situation and would wait until they return home to turn it off.

Through this research, we found out that 100% people feel the need of an app that monitors energy consumption, save money and power. 89% of people would buy recommended devices that would be compatible with the application.

‍

2/ User Persona

Based on our survey responses, we created a user persona representing a consumer who seeks a solution for detailed insights into home utility usage to improve financial planning and enhance energy savings.

‍

3/ Empathy Mapping

Exploring the emotions, needs, and experiences, further resonating with our energy consumers, we conducted empathy mapping.

‍

Comparing available solutions

Following that, we conducted a competitive audit to assess market offerings and analyze competitor strengths and weaknesses.

‍

‍

Defining the objectives of Urja

Energy consumption: Visual report of energy usage to get readings of how their house operates and gain intuition about power consumption.

Home appliances control: Users can control appliances and gadgets from anywhere with just one click.

Real time cost tracking: Tracking energy consumption costs in real time will allow users to watch as their electricity consumption and costs increase or decrease.

Goals: Users can define energy usage and spending targets to generate and manage the monthly household budgets and avoid unexpected expenses.

Setting up routines: Users can create automation with routines, to streamline their lives and also be sure that they’re conserving energy and saving money.

Notifications: Notifications for energy efficiency to remind the user about his energy usage activities and enable him to take instant actions in this respect.

‍

Breaking down the Urja energy saving model

‍

Building flow & sketching the screens

‍

Designing the style guide

‍

Introducing Urja

A) Homepage consisting of personalised energy consumptions. User can turn OFF all devices in just one click. This page also gives access to most used devices and rooms for quick access.

B) My Rooms page lists down all the rooms. User can turn OFF all devices of the room, check the energy consumption of the room and edit rooms.

C) Room page lists the devices of the room and allows the user to control devices in the room. The page lists the device events. It displays the energy consumption and approximate energy cost of the room.

‍

E) Device OFF page allows the user to view the device statistics and edit the device. Device ON page displays the device settings like temperature settings, schedule settings, modes, etc.

F) My Energy Stats is displays the energy consumption data where users can see energy usage in details, with statistics showing when the home has been consuming lot’s of energy, how much energy and how much it costs. The users can compare their consumption to the ideal consumption.

G) Payments page lists the bill details. It applies the reward discounts on the bill amount and makes energy bill payments easy. User can compare previous bills to keep track of their consumptions.

H) Save Energy tips page allows users to calculate their device’s load and energy consumption. Also, suggest some tips to save energy.

I) Goals lists down the goals and its status. Goals help to define milestones to control and compare energy usage. The overarching objective is to motivate users to adopt energy-efficient practices through a reward system, thereby contributing to a substantial reduction in both environmental impact and monthly expenses.

J) Set A Goal allows users to set goals contributing to save energy.

K) Users get notifications for devices left turned on or tips for more energy usage reduction.