Research: Websites helping you save energy

The focal point of this well designed site is its Impact Calculator. The quiz-styles calculator helps you get a fix on your energy goals and design it around your lifestyle with the aim of reducing your total environmental impact. The calculator uses regional default values and gives you a customized profile that reflects the specifics of your home. The other resources on the site are on recommendations on green products and services. One of my favorite sections is Lowdown which tells us how people are living in green homes around the world.

Another US Department of Energy website works similarly to the other energy savings calculator by using your location to setup an energy profile. With your location, you get an estimate of what a typical and what an energy efficient home spend on energy. Comparison estimates are detailed and show where (and how) you can redesign your home to start saving on energy costs. Even if you don’t upgrade, it’s a great learning tool to see how you can make a difference.

Earth Aid (Beta) tracks your energy usage by linking to your online utility accounts (gas, power, and water). Ideas on how to save are offered on the site as well as the community on it. Tracking your usage could help you visualize your energy spends and what more you need to do to lower the graph. The tips on ways you can save is neatly arranged and described with icons. You can check out incentives available, environmental benefits, and costs. Earth Aid takes a community approach as you can share your spends and savings with other members.

Blackle was created by Heap Media to remind us all of the need to take small steps in our everyday lives to save energy. Blackle searches are powered by Google Custom Search.

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.

It even makes it fun to use by allowing you to custom make your own search engine, by adding your name and choosing the font/style, which will come up where "Google" usually appears.

Denkimeter
This was developed by university professor and game researcher Akito Inoue.. Inoue based the game around energy conservation but imbued it with the spirit of competition.
To play, simply form a team and then tweet your home electricity meter readings. If your team's energy consumption is less than that of competing teams as measured within a certain period of time, your team will receive “battle power” points.

Players often attach photos of their home electric meters and generally have fun with the concept of saving energy.

Research: Energy consumption devices

Ecobutto
The ecobutto is an illuminating USB device that acts as a reminder and a prompt for the user to press it's button at every opportunity whenever the computer is going to be left idle. This could be from taking a phone call or break, to doing paperwork or going to lunch and meetings where otherwise the
computer would normally be left on. This is because people generally do not like turning off their computers because of the time it often takes to restart. When the ecobutton is pressed it engages the computer into energy saving ‘ecomode’. This ensures that both the computer and monitor are set to operate in the most efficient, lowest power mode available, which actually draws only the same nominal power as when the computer and monitor are turned off!
When you need to use the computer again, simply press any key to instantly return to where you left off!

No one wants to take the time and effort to turn their computer on and off all the time when their just leaving it for 10 minutes.  This button is simple and fast therefore people would want to use it more.

EcoSaver Powermeter
This mini power meter is designed to measure the power consumption of electrical appliances via a plug and read system. Plug the device into a wall socket and then plug any electrical device into it thus allowing it to display how much energy it being used. The Powermeter displays accurately and precisely how much energy is being used so the user knows immediately the associated cost to run the appliance.

When you get your power bill at the end of the month you don't really know whats using the most energy and what doesn't use much energy.  Therefore having one of these allows people to easily test each appliance in their house, making it easy for people to find what uses the most energy and cut down on using it.

Water Saving Shower Monitor & Timer
This Showertime water saving monitor and timer, you will be able to understand how much water you use every time you have a shower. With the bathroom using nearly 40% of all water in the home, the shower is the perfect place to start saving water.

The LCD display shows volume of water in a fun numerical and graphical format. The case and buttons are waterproof, the timer can be wall mounted or lanyard hung and the lithium battery has a life span of 12 months.

With this shower timer and monitor you can set targets for water usage and an alarm will go off when you reach that target. Helps you to save 100's of litres of water and reduce your water bill with programmable targets with a calibrated filling display. The Efergy Shower timer is easy to set up and easy to use, it comes with an eco-container which is used to measure the flow rate of the shower or bath. Once the container is full the monitor is set, so every time you take a shower or bath you can measure the amount of water used.

 

Fridge/Freezer Thermometer
This a simple to use fridge thermometer with easy to read dial and optimum setting marker. It ensures your fridge or freezer is set at the optimum temperature without wasting energy. The thermometer is made of stainless steel so is guaranteed to give many years of reliable and accurate operation. By using the right temperature in your fridge or freezer you can save energy and save money. Simply put the thermometer into the fridge or freezer (standing and hanging positions are possible) and check the temperature on the large easy to read display. Adjust the fridge or freezer to the optimum setting.

PowerSafer
This great energy saving gadget is designed for single TV applications. Simply connect into your chosen electrical appliances and this device will let you keep you them on standby with-out using any energy. Standard standby mode energy use can increase the wear and tear of all appliances as well as crank up your electric bill.

This is a great device as like with your computer you don't want to have to switch it on and off at the wall all the time, especially as a lot of TV plugs are behind the TV and hard to access.  This makes it easy to save energy and doesn't require you to do anything more than you already do when turning your TV on standby.

Project Two - Research: Ways to reduce energy consumption

- Unplug appliances and turn off lights when you're not using them
- Set computers to sleep and hibernate
- Use power strips for TVs, stereos etc. so you can easily switch them off
- Take control of temperature:
      - Turn thermostat on water down
      - Use sunlight in the daytime and close curtains to trap heat at night
      - Turn thermostat down at night and when noones home
      - Insulate walls and ceilings
- Wash clothes in cold water and let them air dry.  Don't use a dryer
- Let dishes air dry.  Don't dry them in the dish washer
- Use dish washer and washing machine at off peak hours as energy consumption is more at peak hours
- Use energy suffient bulbs
- Walk, bike or car pool instead of driving
- Reduce the amount of waste you produce, use reusable products and recyle
- Take shorter showers and replace your shower head with a less powerful one that dispenses water slower
- Cook efficiently
- Use Blackle, which is a black version of Google.  A black screen uses less power than a white one.
- Download apps like CO2 saver which reduces the power settings on your computer when its not in use

When researching about ways to reduce energy, I found the majority of the ways were to simply turning things off when not in use and reducing the amount you use water and power.  This is easily said but when it comes to actually doing it, most people won't bother because it takes a lot more effort to switch the TV off at the wall than to just turn it on stanby with the control.  To make people want to do these things more you'd need to make it easier to turn things off completely or make something give you positive and negative responses as people respond to this more.

Evaluation

After completing my interactive object and ending up with the four "Sherbet Pooftas", I am pleased with the result.  My aim at the beginning was to create a unique and exciting way for young kids to enjoy sherbet.  I think my object achieved this as the colourful animal-shaped toys appeal to young kids and make them want to interact with them.  When they do pick them up and start playing with them, the sherbet adds an element of surprise, when it "poofs" out with enough pressure.  The four different flavours adds enough interest to keep kids entertained for long enough.  I also found that these toys not only appeal to young kids they seem to appeal to everyone, as there are a lot of "big kids" out there that still enjoy sherbet.

Description

Sherbet Pooftas

I got inspiration for my interactive object from sweets that are sold at the dairy and from a small blow horn. Originally I was only going to have one flavor of sherbet in a squishy ball, that when squeezed could act sort of like a stress relief ball at the same time as releasing sherbet.  But my target audience is young kids so I needed to make it more appealing to them.  Therefore I developed my toy into four, coloured animal shaped toys that have four different flavours (lemon, strawberry, orange and blueberry) in them.  The flavours match the toy that are the colour most associated with that flavour and when squeezed they “poof” out sherbet. My aim was to create a unique and exciting way of eating sherbet for young kids. Instruction To use my interactive object you simply pick it up and make sure the bottom (the side with the small holes) is facing towards you.  You hold it up to your mouth and squeeze.  Sherbet will then “poof’ out for you to taste.  You don’t have to squeeze it straight into your mouth either, you could squeeze it onto a lollipop and eat it off there, or eat it how you please.  There are four different flavours for you to enjoy.  The yellow turtle is lemon, orange fish is orange, pink whale is strawberry and the blue seal is blueberry.

Photos

The four Sherbet Pooftas.






Then you squeeze the toy in a fast motion so that the "poof" of sherbet is large.



Here you see the sherbet "poof" upwards.

The best way to taste the sherbet it to squeeze it straight into your mouth.

Development

I looked around for some sort of squishy ball/object that has small holes in it, and that when squeezed lets out air but then returns back to its origional shape.  I found a dogs toy that whistles through the hole in the bottom when squeezed. 
Origionally my plan was to put the sherbet into the toy through the hole in the bottom, poke several small holes in the top of the toy, in the hopes that when squeezed the sherbet would poof out the holes in the top. 
However when I put the sherbet inside I found out that the sherbet actually poofed out the bottom but didn't whistle. 
The only problem with this toy was that its too large and the sherbet only occasionally came out.  And I also wanted a ball rather than a hamburger toy.

I then began searching for a smaller object than the dogs toy, in the shape of a ball.  I found the above squishy ball that when squeezed also returned to its origional shape.  It didn't have a small enough hole in the top to make the sherbet poof out though.  So I removed the plug from the dogs toy (that made it whistle) and placed it in the the top of this ball.  I found it dispensed the sherbert better than the dogs toy but that it still only did it occasionally as the ball was too long.

After searching for more, thinner objects that do the same as the above two, I found some small bath toys in the shapes of animals.  When I placed the sherbet in them, they dispensed it exactly how I wanted and I realised that these were the perfect size for what I wanted it to do.  As these were a lot smaller than the palm of your hand I realised having my object in the shape of a ball became a lot less interesting. 

Origionally I just got the bath toys to test whether the size of them would be correct.  But when I handed the toys to people to try out, everyone seemed a lot more fasinated by the bath toys than a plain white ball.  The colours and shapes made people want to interact with it a lot more. 

I also thought about the age groups that would most likely interact with my object.  Which would be younger kids who like spending their pocket money on sweets at the dairy.  Thinking about this, I realised the animal shapes and colours would also appeal to this audience a lot more than a simple ball.  I tested this by asking some young kids and I was right they preferred interacting with the bath toys.

Origionally I was only going to have one small object that dispensed the sherbet but looking at the colours of the toys ( pink, yellow, orange and blue) I noticed they all resemble quite distinct flavours (strawberry, lemon, orange and blueberry).  So I then decided to make 4 different flavoured sherbets and place them in toys according to their colour.  I thought that having more than one would be a lot more interesting to interact with as they are quite small.

When I first made the sherbet I added raro which isn't coloured therefore the sherbert turned out white.  I thought that it would have a sweet smell as it contains raro and icing sugar but it didn't have a smell at all. 
I showed the sherbet to several people without actually telling them what it was and asked them whether they would eat this.  All the responses I got were that they wouldn't because it looks like flour.

Therefore instead of using raro I decided to use jelly crystals as they are coloured.  They don't add much more of a smell than the raro but I don't think my object needs to, as it might become too much, including too many senses.  I then asked several people again whether they would try this coloured powder not knowing what it was.  A lot more people said they would as the colour gives the impression it's sweet.

When trying to think of a name to call these four, animal shaped, sherbet dispensers, I decided on "Sherbet Pooftas".  It's a quirky name that would draw in my target market of young kids and it discribes the object well.  The main idea of the object is to eat the sherbet, which poofs out.