FLOW - SUSTAINABLE ENERGY GENERATOR
Changing User Behaviour with Introduction to Participatory Experience Design
This project was done when I was nominated to participate in International Integrated Design Camp 2021, Korean Institute of Design in June 2021.
The theme for the year 2021 was ' Zero Waste : Towards Sustainable and Enjoyable Living.'
The team was of 6 students from 4 countries and 1 mentor from Italy.
My team was given with the topic to work on 'Energy Communities'
Korean Institute of Design Promotion, South Korea.
Journey
As a part of International Integrated Design Camp by Korean Institute of Design Promotion. Each team was given with a topic to work along the lines of Sustainability and theme of 'Zero Waste : Towards Sustainable and Enjoyable Living'
The time duration for the camp was of 2 weeks in the month of July 2021.
Comparison of Energy Flow
2018 and 2050
Our research shows the future of the electricity industry is community or individual generated. From 2018 to 2050 globally, it is predicted that the electricity generation will double.
Even if electricity decentralization is the new trend, we found some blockages that stop this trend from being fully implemented. Current problems are in several areas: Economical : Solar panel efficiency and cost effectiveness, Social : General public awareness about energy waste. Lastly, Government policy.
Secondary Research
In secondary research, we tried to first understand the topic and then narrow down our scope to do more indepth research
We found out that there are already few communities in Europe, who have implemented renewable energy like solar. But those are in rural areas and hardly any in urban areas.
There is a company named 'Jouliette' who converts the excess energy into crypto tokens. Then there are cities who are trying to sustain only using renewable or sustainable energy.
Even there are technologies which uses hydrogen extracted from water as a fuel source and we found out that peer-to-peer transmission of electricity is better than peer-to-grid as there can be lose of electricity while transmitting and few other problems as well.
Primary Research - Field Trip 1
After doing secondary research, we did primary research and field trips. We tried to cover all kinds of users like people who use renewable sources of energy and those who don't.
Apart from individuals around the world using renewable resources and their consumption experience. We spoke with Mr. Piero Pelizzaro, working at Chief Resilience Office, Milan, Italy and the team and tutor from Team 9 - Dr. Delfina Fantini van Ditmar. We also got the chance to visit the job world in Bundang - gu, South Korea, whose whole building runs on solar power and interview the engineer there.
Types of energies present in society,
Natural, Human and Man-Made.
We tried to make use of Human Energy and converted it into form of Electrical Energy. Here, we tried to use the kinetic energy, sound energy and light energy and made the individuals participate into making low cost and non pollutant production of energy.
Persona Mapping
We made personas that were not region based nor environmental friendly. We tried to make the extremes common together as our target audience.
Insights
• People think clean energy is Government's responsibility and a person as individual can not do much
• Just having solar or any form of Renewable Energy is not enough, one also need knowledge to maintain it or use it efficiently
• Excess energy usually goes to waste as it is not stored properly
• Even if people start using Renewable Energy they need some kind of motivation to keep going
How might we, facilitate existing communities in the encouragement of the use of sustainable power, even for those who do not have the means at home?
Storyboard
Concept and Ideation
Conceptualisation and Ideation
In detail, our energy labs are installed differently, depending on the energies available in the regions. Here the concept is for windy regions.
Labs are inspired from pinwheels. Where an arch of colourful pinwheels generate energy and store in a giant pinwheel placed horizontally in the space.
This giant pinwheel also has a trampoline which generates energy. They can also charge their small devices here.
Individuals of the flow community can gather at this landmark and play on it. Colorful design makes people enjoy and gives them a positive experience about energy.
Flow helps users and energy become closer. Users will navigate the community, see their energy usage and credits.
Users can easily join the energy community. Even more, we will recommend a suitable energy generator for you. You can collect credits through energy production and spend it in the local community.
You can even check out the most important 3 features of flow app with your smartwatch. You will easily and quickly see visually simplified energy usage, credits you’ve gathered, and communities close to you.
Service Concept
Our service is mainly tackling the issue in energy waste awareness, through our design ecosystem of offline touchpoints such as natural energy installation in the city with high population density, to interact with our energy exchange system.
Offline installation mainly raises awareness of the general public, and its theme may vary according to different locations. It sparks the audience’s curiosity to discover our service system, leading them onto their journey to take more responsibility.
Even though our system may not be able to directly tackle environmental and technical problems, with more subscribed or informed audiences, we may form a community that uses our service to make a social impact or even change local energy policy.
Service Model
Our service model is to bring users that are new to the Energy saving or clean energy concept to implement our principles into their life to make a change.
One thing sets our service apart is providing a community with users of different energy saving awareness levels to nudge and encourage each other keeping this good action alive.
Besides, the reward system may create a special culture and contribution hierarchy in this community to stimulate further engagements.
Our service may closely collaborate with city governments and other energy programs, companies, the energy exchange and sharing system can be regional at the beginning.
In the long run this platform seized the potential of becoming a future international energy credit system to encourage collaboration between nations. Thus we believe it’s possible to start small but dream big with everyone on board.
No part of any project displayed herewith may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
