Grid Sense
Designing Ambient Interfaces for Collective Energy Awareness
Description
Germany’s transition to renewable energy calls for a shift in how we use electricity—understanding when it’s abundant and when it’s scarce, a process called ‘balancing the energy grid’. While many Germans want to support this transition, they don’t know how. GridSense Home is a minimal ambient device that makes clean energy monitoring simple for all. Using a low-power LED and digital display, it shows how much of your energy comes from renewable sources and correlates with grid availability, preparing citizens for the future. Designed for Berlin’s 3.8 million renters, who lack space or capital for renewables, it promotes mindful energy use without the complexity of smart home tech. GridSense offers intuitive insights in shared spaces, with a companion app for detailed tracking. Developed through an experimental Human-Computer Interaction study, it answers how to best present energy data to foster a shift in energy consumption behavior.