Assessing user behaviour for changes in the design of energy using domestic products

Abstract- This paper explores the contribution that user behaviour could make to the creation of new energy efficient products. It does this by first looking at the energy demand of 6 households then discusses the identification of the products with the highest potential for improvement. This is then narrowed down to products with a high energy impact and those where a high level of human interaction and use is also evident. A model for guiding design changes based on a theoretical minimum energy level for each product is presented. The paper ends with a behaviour based design assessment procedure based on the results of the 6 household study. Index terms- Eco-design, energy efficiency, user behaviour, behaviour analysis, domestic energy, theoretical minimum