Co-Designing a Device for Behaviour-Based Energy Reduction in a Large Organisation

Decreasing our demand for energy is an important component of the global effort to reduce carbon emissions. Energy consumption, both at home and in the workplace, is greatly influenced by human behaviour. Our research investigates how technological interventions could support behaviour-based energy reduction. This paper reports a Living Lab study on the co-design of a device for improving energy efficiency via behaviour change in a large public-sector organisation. We emphasise the importance of taking a broad view of organisational behaviour, highlighting the complex and indirect ways that it influences energy use. Methods and findings are reported from a series of insight and innovation workshops that we held with staff, and which led to the development of a prototype device - LILEE: The Little Interface for Lab Equipment Efficiency. We describe LILEE and discuss how it embodies wider lessons for the design of effective energy-related behaviour change interventions.