Abstract
Energy information for consumers can be complex and uninteresting. Games offer a compelling new context for home energy information that may engage consumers and change behaviors. Based on research showing the effectiveness of game elements used in serious contexts, we built a professional quality social game about energy use in a virtual home. In a laboratory experiment, playing the game for 30 min resulted in significant increases in energy efficient behaviors (e.g., turning off room lights) after play ended. In a field test of the same game, smart meter data showed a significant decrease in electricity usage compared with 30-day periods before and after play. Taken together, these results demonstrate that energy information embedded in an entertaining commercial-grade game can produce significant changes in energy behavior.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
