What we do matters – a time-use app to capture energy relevant activities

Panel: 9. Consumption and behaviour

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Philipp Grünewald, ECI - Energy Group. Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Marina Diakonova, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
Davide Zilli, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford
Adriano Matousek, Abingdon School, UK
Jessica Bernard, Wageningen University & Research

Abstract

Demand side response is expected by some to aid the reliability of future electricity system and reduce costs. The extent of the potential contribution depends among other things on what that demand was used for. Some uses are more flexible than others. Some can be influenced through price signals, others may require different forms of incentive or changes to material or social contexts in order to become more flexible. Our understanding of the relationship between the activities of individuals and groups with the resulting electricity patterns in time is still in its infancy.

This paper presents a novel research tool based on a mobile app to collect activity and other contextual information with the aim of addressing this gap. The open source architecture was specifically designed to allow widespread use and customisation of the app without the need for programming skills, thereby continuously improving its ease of use and functionality.

Four innovations are introduced. 1) A six-way decision tree allows to discriminate between up to 216 activities with as little as three user-screen interaction. 2) The recording of instances in time (‘constructive time perspective’) greatly reduces the user-interface complexity. 3) A system of ‘follow-up’ prompts allows to collect critical information, which might otherwise not be collected. 4) Immediate virtual rewards encourage participation.

We discuss advantages and drawbacks of this approach in relation to conventional paper-based methods.