Eco-visualization: combining art and technology to reduce energy consumption

ABSTRACT

Can creative visualizations of real time energy consumption patterns trigger more ecologically responsible behavior? Media art that displays the real time usage of key resources such as electricity offers new strategies to conserve energy in the home and workplace. This paper details the development of a public art project created for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications that measures electricity usage in real time for the purpose of education and curtailment of power usage. A version of this piece will be on view in the exhibition, Speculative Data and the Creative Imaginary, a component of the 2007 Creativity and Cognition conference.

REFERENCES

• 1: Available at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/.
• 2: Philips, Patricia C. March 1998. Points of Departure: Public Art's Intentions, Indignities, and Interventions. Sculpture 17 ( 3), March 1, 2007.
• 3: The USA is by far the greatest consumer of energy. See: Andrew C. Revkin, On Climate Change, A Change of Thinking. New York Times, December 4, 2005.
• 4: Seligman, C. and J.M. Darley. 1977. Feedback as a means of decreasing residential energy consumption. Journal of Applied Psychology 62 (4): 363--368.
• 5: McClelland, L., and S.W. Cook. 1979-80. Energy conservation effects of continuous in-home feedback in all-electric homes. Journal of Environmental Systems 9 (2): 169--173.
• 6: McClelland, L., and S.W. Cook. 1979-80. Energy conservation effects of continuous in-home feedback in all-electric homes. Journal of Environmental Systems 9 (2): 169--173.
• 7: L. McCalley , C. Midden, Computer Based Systems in Household Appliances: The Study of Eco-Feedback as a Tool for Increasing Conservation Behavior, Proceedings of the Third Asian Pacific Computer and Human Interaction, p.344, July 15-17, 1998
• 8: McCalley and Midden's project abstract is available at: http://www.onderzoekinformatie.nl/en/oi/nod/onderzoek/ OND1262544/.
• 9: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_Automation.
• 10: Example: http://luciddesigngroup.com.
• 11: Sustainability is a framework of ideas that, in conjunction with new technologies, can help us preserve resources.
• 12: http://www.menominee.edu/sdi/whatis.htm.
• 13: World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future: World Commission of Environment and Development (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), 43.
• 14: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/WOL/Introduction.asp
• 15: Dan Harvey as quoted in "Global Commons as Resource and as Icon: Imagining Oceans and Whales" in Lawrence Buell's Writing for an Endangered World: Literature, Culture, and Environment in the US and Beyond, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001, p. 197--198.
• 16: Victor Margolin, "Reflections on Art and Sustainability," in Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art, Stephanie Smith, ed. Smart Museum Of Art, The University Of Chicago, 2006), p. 11--12.
• 17: Tony Fry, "The Sustainment: a reiteration and elaboration, Archizine, January 20, 2003.
• 18: World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future: World Commission of Environment and Development. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987, p.65.
• 19: Martin Wattenberg, "Introduction to Visualization, From Data to Pictures to Insight (2005)." Online: http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/contentnr/introvisualization
• 20: Artists interested in visualizing environmental data: Natalie Jeremijenko, Beatriz da Costa, Andrea Polli.
• 21: http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/contentnr/introvisualization.
• 22: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_design.
• 23: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_design.
• 24: William A. McDonough and Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. New York: North Point Press, 2002, p. 18--26.
• 25: McDonough and Braungart, p. 90.
• 26: Sue Spaid, Ecovention, Current Art to Transform Ecologies, Ram Publications, 2002.
• 27: Stephanie Smith, ed. Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art. Smart Museum Of Art, The University Of Chicago, 2006.
• 28: Smith, p.12.
• 29: Richard H. Grove, Donald Worster, and Alfred W. Crosby. Green Imperialism : Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism, 1600-1860. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
• 30: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18 93089&sourceCode=gaw.
• 31: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming.
• 32: http://healthandenergy.com/potential_effects_of_climate_change.htm.
• 33: http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/emis/annex.htm
• 34: http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/emis/annex.htm
• 35: Brown, L. Outgrowing the Earth: The Food Security Challenge in an Age of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005.
• 36: http://unfccc.int/essential_background/feeling_the_heat/items/2917.php
• 37: Lester R. Brown, Plan B: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003, citation from back cover.
• 38: http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhome/technical/fs42.htm.
• 39: http://solarcookers.org/.
• 40: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/07/we_want_fuel_ec.php.
• 41: L. McCalley , C. Midden, Computer Based Systems in Household Appliances: The Study of Eco-Feedback as a Tool for Increasing Conservation Behavior, Proceedings of the Third Asian Pacific Computer and Human Interaction, p.344, July 15-17, 1998
• 42: William McDonough and Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. North Point Press, 2002.
• 43: Stuart Hart, Capitalism at the Crossroads: The Unlimited Business Opportunities in Solving the World's Most Difficult Problems, Wharton School Publishing, 2005, p.3.
• 44: Winett, R.A., J.H. Kagel, R.C. Battalio, and R.C. Winkler. 1978. Effects of monetary rebates, feedback, and information on residential electricity conservation. Journal of Applied Psychology 63 (1): 73--80.
• 45: Crabb, Peter B. 1992. Effective control of energydepleting behavior. American Psychologist 47 (6): 815--816.
• 46: Heslop, L.A., L. Moran and A. Cousineau. 1981. "Consciousness" in energy conservation behavior: an exploratory study. Journal of Consumer Research 8: 299--305.
• 47: Katzev, R., and T. Johnson. 1984. Comparing the effects of monetary incentives and foot-in-the-door strategies in promoting residential electricity conservation. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 14 (1): 12--27.
• 48: Katzev, R., and T. Johnson. 1984. Comparing the effects of monetary incentives and foot-in-the-door strategies in promoting residential electricity conservation. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 14 (1): 12--27.
• 49: Neuman, K. 1986. Personal values and commitment to energy conservation. Environment and Behavior 18 (1): 53--74.
• 50: Pallak, M.S. and W. Cummings. 1976. Commitment and voluntary energy conservation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2: 27--30.
• 51: Pallak, M.S. and W. Cummings. 1976. Commitment and voluntary energy conservation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2: 27--30.
• 52: Bittle, R.G., R. Valesano, and G. Thaler. 1979. The effects of daily cost feedback on residential electricity consumption. Behavior Modification 3: 187--202.
• 53: Bittle, R.G., R. Valesano, and G. Thaler. 1979. The effects of daily cost feedback on residential electricity consumption. Behavior Modification 3: 187--202.
• 54: Dobson, J.K., and J.D.A. Griffin. 1992. Conservation effect of immediate electricity cost feedback on residential consumption behavior. Proceedings of the ACEEE 1992 Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings 10: 33--35.
• 55: Siero, F.W., A.B. Bakker, G.B. Dekker, and M.T.C. van den Burg. 1996. Changing organizational energy consumption behavior through comparative feedback. Journal of Environmental Psychology 16: 235--246.
• 56: McClelland, L., and L. Belsten. 1979-80. Promoting energy conservation in university dormitories by physical, policy and resident behavior changes. Journal of Environmental Systems 9 (1): 29--38.
• 57: http://www.oberlin.edu/dormenergy/.
• 58: http://www.tii.se/static/.
• 59: Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, Dover Publications, 1985.
• 60: Ted Smalley Bowen, "Overly smart buildings," Technology Research News, April 20/27, 2005. http://www.trnmag.com/Impact_Assessment.html.
• 61: http://www.ornl.gov/ORNL/Energy_Eff/labweb.htm.
• 62: Hartkopf, V., V. Loftness, S. Lee, D. Archer, A. Aziz, R. Brahme, M. Mondazzi, Y. Pan, N. Raje, G. Wu, H. Yin. "Building As Power Plant," U.S. Green Building Council International Green Building Conference and Expo, Austin, Texas, November 13-15, 2002.
• 63: http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/10%2D50%5FLoftness%2Epdf.
• 64: Due to the short-term exhibition, dynamic electricity data is not available from the National Academy of Sciences so the piece offers an interactive simulation.
• 65: See: http://www.luciddesigngroup.com/.
• 66: Edward Tufte, Envisioning information, Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT, 1990
• 67: http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/carboncalculator.asp
• 68: Kish, Matthew, "A new item for watchdogs: the corporate carbon load." Portland Business Journal, February 2, 2007.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems
          Subjects: Animations

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation

Keywords:
carbon loads, conservation, dynamic, electricity, energy, new media, offsetting, public art, real-time, resource conservation, sustainability, visualization