Projects
Projects: Projects for Investigator |
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| Reference Number | EP/I00033X/1 | |
| Title | Informing Energy Choices Using Ubiquitous Sensing | |
| Status | Completed | |
| Energy Categories | Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial) 50%; Energy Efficiency(Transport) 50%; |
|
| Research Types | Basic and strategic applied research 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics and Econometrics) 30%; SOCIAL SCIENCES (Sociology) 30%; PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Computer Science and Informatics) 40%; |
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| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour) 75%; Other (Energy technology information dissemination) 25%; |
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| Principal Investigator |
Dr AJ Friday No email address given Computing Lancaster University |
|
| Award Type | Standard | |
| Funding Source | EPSRC | |
| Start Date | 18 January 2011 | |
| End Date | 28 July 2013 | |
| Duration | 30 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £371,245 | |
| Industrial Sectors | Energy; Information Technologies | |
| Region | North West | |
| Programme | Digital Economy, Energy Multidisciplinary Applications | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Dr AJ Friday , Computing, Lancaster University (99.999%) |
| Other Investigator | Dr K Kaivanto , Economics, Lancaster University (0.001%) |
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| Recognised Researcher | Dr MF Rouncefield , Computing, Lancaster University (0.000%) |
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| Industrial Collaborator | Project Contact , Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA (0.000%) Project Contact , Open University (0.000%) Project Contact , Archbishop Temple School (0.000%) Project Contact , Crichton Carbon Centre (0.000%) Project Contact , Dartmouth College, USA (0.000%) |
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| Web Site | ||
| Objectives | ||
| Abstract | There is little doubt we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change. There is however, a disconnect between human activities and impact in energy and carbon externality. By monitoring energy use for a specific human activity, Ubicomp technologies may help us uncover this hidden impact. Our aim is to bring Computer Science, Economics, Carbon Profiling and Sociology together to explore the feasibility of identifying and informing people of 'critical moments intheir daily activities that have carbon impact', so they can individually and collectively make savings. We will work with an actual community using a novel set of technological and cultural probes, involving embedded sensors, smartphone applications, aggregated 'crowdsourced' data and ethnographic field work, to deliver a richer understanding of behaviour that leads to lower carbon lifestyles, backed up by experimental data showing the impact of our intervention feeding this backto end-users. Our software, high level results, algorithms and models will be placed into the public domain and communicated through our programme of engagement, such as developing teaching materials with local schools.Our hypothesis is people are unaware of their direct and indirect energy usage and its associated climate change impact: this is a barrier to understanding how to achieve 'low carbon living' personally, as communities. During a 2 year feasibility study our objectives are to:1. Gather baseline data about energy use and associated carbon footprint that is personally attributable;2. Develop real-time models of financial and environmental tradeoffs for identifing opportunities for savings;3. Communicate opportunities for making savings back to individuals, enabling greater awareness and making it easy to chart the effect of household 'energy related experiments';4. Provide methods for comparing the usage against others in one's social network i) as an incentive, and ii) to raise awareness of low cost opportunities for collective action (such as ride-sharing);5. Create online resources and teaching materials to communicate our findings to a wider population beyond the study group.We have established links with Galloway Carbon Action Project (a community of 2,800) homes who have pledged us support and access to the three communities involved. This is a perfect complement for gathering real world data and findings from end-users and for communicating our findings and having a significant real-world impact. We also have links with local schools who are prepared to help us develop teaching materials, to help us communicate the key lessons to local communities | |
| Publications | (none) |
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| Final Report | (none) |
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| Added to Database | 21/07/10 | |
