Start of project 2B

After handing in part A and discussing some ideas with my tutor i have decided to have a  few changes to my idea. The main concept will still be the same with the 24 hour clock but there will be some differences

1. On the clock i will have the times of 12am, 3am, 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm to show that my device is a clock and so people don't get confused at what they are looking at when trying to figure out what is the current readings.
2. The user will click the button at the button left corner it will activate the animation when you compare 2 days readings. But Now it will be comparing todays readings with the overall average readings for the house instead. This can show the user if there is a trend in their power usage.
3. Because I want my device to be all coloured at all times i have decided to make it that if the current time is 9pm then every reading after that time will be an approximation of how much the device will think you will use compared to other days readings.

written description

For my project 2 I plan on designing a wall mounted power-monitoring device. My device is mainly using the concept of colour to show how much power/energy the people in the household are using. The main look for my device is like two 12-hour clocks in one another. The inside clock representing 12am -11am and the outer clock representing 12pm – 11pm. Depending on the amount of power the house uses in each hour the segments between the two times will light up a certain colour. Red meaning over the recommended usage, green is the recommended and blue meaning under.

If you click on a time you can see how much power each of your rooms are using. You can also compare different days to see if there is a trend on the amount of power you use during the same times each day.

I am going to show this by using adobe flash to show my device. Using Flash I am able to show to show the buttons, which will be on my device and show the different screens.

My target audience is mainly aimed at families who want to save power.  The idea for this idea was mainly from my own house. In my house we do use a lot more power than we should from leaving lights on, to leaving our phone chargers left in the wall. I think that there will be many other houses like mine who do exactly what we do when it comes to the power in the house. In my house we have a device, which controls the heating, and when it is on the main screen is red. It is small but because it is an odd colour compared to the wallpaper I always notice it when I walk past it. That is what I am hoping my device will do so whenever someone in the house walks past it and sees the odd colour they will actually look at it instead of just walk past it.

prototype

Here is my prototype plan for project 2

more ideas

Here are 2 ideas for my project 2.

My inspiration for my first idea came from an ipod dock

My idea is to have it plugged into the wall and when you charge your ipod the dock will use WiFi to talk to other appliances to find out how much power they are using. It will then upload all the information onto your ipod and you can read it off there. You can then walk around your house to the rooms which are using the most power and see why.

My 2nd idea is to have a wall mounted device. On the device i will have a floor plan of your house. Depending on how much power is being used the room will light up a certain colour. If a room is using a lot of power the room will be red and if it is using a reasonable amount then it will be green. 

I remember from the lecture that it will hard to have the floor plan of the house because each house would have to upload the floor plan to the device and it would also be hard to do if the house had more than one story.

Here is an idea which i really like which i am probably going to expand on. 

I got the main ideas for the wall mounted devices from the heat controlling device i have at home.

It is like the device above but a bit more interactive. My one at home lights up red when the heating is on. I want to use that aspect in my device. When walking past my heating device i always notice in the corner of my eye when its red. Colour can be a good way to show how much power is being used.

Ideas

Here is a mind map which i did for project 2

most of my ideas revolve around WiFi which could be a good idea for monitoring several rooms when only having one main monitor.

Things like cell phones and ipods are portable so you could monitor your energy where ever you are

Power usage over the holidays

Over our Holiday i recorded the amount of power which was used in my bed room at home. The main things which were plugged in during my recordings were my TV, Xbox 360, Lamp, Ipod and phone charger and my speakers. Not all of them were on or plugged in during some of the days. I tried to take the readings around the same time to get a fair test.

There is a lot of variation of how much power i used. It all depended on what other things where on during the day and how bored i am.

When monitoring my power and energy usage of my room I found out that it was very hard to actually figure out what I was measuring. The device that I used didn’t tell you much of what was happening except just having a number on a screen. It didn’t tell you what the number is or represented.

The device is quite dull and boring, there isn’t much interaction on the device besides one button that just changed the number on the screen but again it didn’t tell you what the number was.

For my design I want to move away from using just a lot of numbers because I think it is quite boring and people aren’t interested in the statistics of how much power people are using. So I want to use as little numbers in my design  and somehow use another idea how to show how much energy/power that people are using.

Energy saving tips

This is the information which we found in class for saving energy

Tips for saving energy if you’re staying home

• Defrost your freezer - it will run more efficiently
• Fix dripping taps
• Turn your appliances off at the wall when not in use
• Turn your lights down to the low setting, or turn them off altogether
• Make sure the temperature of your hot water is 55 degrees at the tap

Tips for saving energy if you’re going away

• Turn your appliances off at the wall - even appliances on standby use energy!
• Turn your heated towel rail off
• Sensor lights are great outside, they only turn on when needed and provide additional security for your home while you are away
• Turn the hot water cylinder off if you are going to be away for more than one week
• If you have a fridge that you won’t need to keep things chilled in, turn it off at the wall, but remember to leave the door open

These things can make a big difference, for no cost

• Use natural warmth from the sun as much as possible to dry clothes instead of the dryer. SAVE $40* every year.
• Washing powders are so effective in cold water these days, there’s really no need to do hot washes. SAVE $60* each year.
• Got a beer fridge? If you only turn it on at the weekend and keep it switched off during the week, you’ll SAVE $100* every year.
• Check that your hot water is no more than 55 degrees C at the tap. Every 10 degrees C higher than that, and you’re spending a hefty 10% more than you need to. SAVE $30* every year.
• Like your towels warm and dry? Your heated towel rail can do the job in just a couple of hours - then flick it off and you’ll SAVE $100* each year.
• Phase out standby mode altogether. It’s not just the obvious culprits like TVs, stereos and electronic equipment. Washing machines, dryers, and phone chargers left on at the wall can also drain a lot of unnecessary energy. Switch everything off at the wall and you’ll SAVE $75* a year.
• Try and reduce the amount of time spent in the shower. By limiting your showers to 5 minutes you could SAVE $100* per year.

$505 a year

eplace main light bulbs with fluorescent ones.

Initial Investment: Around $20 for four bulbs. 

You Save: $84 a year*.

Install a water-efficient shower head.

Initial Investment: $60 - $200 

You Save: $120 a year*.

Install a heat pump for healthy dry heat through your home.

Initial Investment: $2,500 - $4,500. You Save: $870 a year*.

Install insulation in your ceiling and under your floor.

Initial Investment: From $2,800 (based on 100m² home). 

You Save: $168 a year*.