Shorter days and colder nights, winter is upon us. Many of you may be fighting the temptation to stick the heating on, leave the lights on and run hour-long hot showers upon crawling in from work. Don’t even mention the mould spiralling out of control in the coldest and dampest rooms… the wet towels which remain forever wet….at a time when it’s way too cold to even consider opening the windows, cranking the heating up and tumble-drying EVERYTHING is the only way to combat the feeling that you’re living in a cave. On top of this, you’ve got to have the TV on constantly as you’re certainly not going to be venturing outside for the next three months.
Maybe this is why winter is the most pertinent time to put some real thought into energy saving behaviour, and where UX practises can help guide us all in saving the pennies and the environment.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have recently commissioned a report on the Usability of Smarter Heating Controls; co-authored by Steven Wall and Filip Healy.
In the report, the specialists address the effectiveness of the technology users interact with to control energy flow throughout their homes. Taking into account demographics, impairments, education level and even smart-phone ownership, this report provides an interesting insight into the usability of heating control products currently on the market and provides recommendations for key requirements to keep in mind for future development.
With climate and economic change at the forefront of our minds, this proves to be an important piece of research which simultaneously provides insight, and emphasises the scope and relevance of the application of usability studies.
Please feel free to contact Sam Emmett to discuss all things UX.
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