http://fireflyeco.com/
rss
email
twitter
  • About

Show-Me the Water

no comments
Posted on Sep 25 2009 by Daniel
Tweet

Show-Me, the Shower Water Meter, aims to bring data visualization to your tub time.  Created by Karin Kappel and Thomas Grechenig at the Vienna University of Techology (and presented in the ACM International Conference Proceeding Series; Vol. 350), this device uses a stick of LEDs to show homeowners just how much water they’re using when they shower.  The more you use, the higher the lights climb, giving you instant feedback on your consumption.

I like this implementation a lot, because it doesn’t rely on reading numbers from a display.  Making the consumption visual, rather than numerical, makes it harder to ignore.

“The lights are up to my knees – I’m doing well.”

“Now they’re up to my neck!  I wonder how I used so much water!”

The metaphor of a rising water line is well suited to the application.

Rather than memorizing a number day-to-day, you get a sense for what “height” is normal for you and you can set personal goals for reduction.  In fact, users showd an interesting pattern, drastically cutting consumption after a few days, only to rise again a few days later.  As they struck a balance between conservation and comfort, they achieved reductions of about 33 percent.

And to underscore the value of ecometrics over assumptions and common sense, the authors offer this story:

“The prototype also triggered some interesting side effects. A couple used to argue that one of them always took longer in the shower and consequently used more water. After they installed the display, they learned that the woman used only half as much water, even though she spent more time in the shower. This discovery stimulated the man to further reduce his own water consumption.”

via Infosthetics

Can't get enough? Try these related posts:

  1. Water Water (conservation) Everywhere
  2. PlotWatt Labs: Boiling a pot of water, Part I
  3. PlotWatt Labs: Boiling a pot of water, Part II
  4. SciLights: One Spigot to Rule Them All
  5. Pyramid of Conservation

  Tags: visualization, Water Category: EcoMetrics, Residential

Twitter

What you’re saying:

  • Joeblow on Solar Sheep
  • lu9 on Homestar. Sewiously.
  • Leslie Davis on BizBuzz: Plastic Bags into Oil

Blogroll

  • Visual Business Intelligence
    Data Art vs. Data Visualization: Why Does a Distinction Matter?
    May 18, 2012

  • Chart Porn
    Compendium of Advanced Graphics Tools
    May 18, 2012

  • Energy Circle
    ReCircle: Financing Home Solar, Zero-VOC Paint, a Bathroom LED Upgrade, and more!
    May 18, 2012

  • FlowingData
    Is the filibuster unconstitutional?
    May 18, 2012

  • Green Building Advisor Blogs
    Choosing an Energy-Efficient Refrigerator
    May 18, 2012

  • JMP Blog
    10 tips for making analytics converts out of your colleagues
    May 17, 2012

  • Gemba Panta Rei
    Where is Your Suggestion Box?
    May 16, 2012

  • information aesthetics
    Venngage: And Yet Another Online Infographics Editor
    May 15, 2012

  • Lean Insider
    Problem Solving and the Lean Journey
    May 7, 2012

  • mapawatt
    If I wanted America to fail is a joke
    April 30, 2012

Categories

  • Carbon
  • Commercial
  • Design
  • EcoMetrics
  • Energy
  • Financial
  • Food and Agriculture
  • InfoVis
  • Lean
  • Nature
  • PlotWatt
  • Policy
  • Pollution
  • Presentation
  • Residential
  • Solid Waste
  • Transportation
  • Water

Tags

agriculture appliances bacteria biomimicry buildings cap and trade carbon footprint cash for clunkers CFL climate change computers corn data efficiency electricity grid home comfort humidity humor HVAC LCA Lean LED legislation lighting maps marketing offsets oil organic recycling renewables SciLights smart grid social justice software solar statistics subsidies TEDTalks transportation UNC visualization waste Water

  • About
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License