Development and testing a novel interface for domestic phantom energy management tool

Abstract

When an electrical appliance is in Idle or Standby mode, a significant amount of electrical energy is consumed due to the internal functions of that appliance. This energy consumption is known by various names, such as Phantom load, Idle load, Standby power, and Vampire energy etc. Accordingly, this phenomenon is identified as energy loss for which the residents have to incur a significant amount of money from their monthly electricity bill. In order to minimize this energy loss, a number of solutions have been set forth. Thus, findings of this study have exposed that it has not been able to reach usability and user experiences goals by the means of these solutions, Hence, adhering to the design science methodology and applying the user experience design theories, this study developed a novel interface for Phantom load management and it was evaluated in problem context, and thereby, it paved the way to identify the main functionalities that the residents expect from a Phantom load management solution and the most useful information for the residents. Furthermore, the novel interface introduced by this study has exposed the achievement of the usability goals of effectiveness, efficiency, learnability, safety and the user experiences goals of enjoyability and satisfaction.