A pervasive app for a better management of energy and transportation - Gamification to link activity, carbon footprint, energy consumption and commuting patterns to achieve positive lifestyle changes

Abstract

SINTEF Energy is developing a Smart Decision Support System for Urban Energy and Transportation (DESENT). A better management of home energy and transportation has multiple benefits including savings and a significant reduction of carbon footprint. In addition, being more active, by cycling instead of driving, has many health benefits.

In this thesis we will develop an app to increase the user s awareness about its own contribution to the climate change, and motivate the user to change her/his behaviour to a more sustainable one. This app will collect and process data re- garding the user s travels and energy consumption. The development leans on previous research on behaviour change theories, persuasive computing and gam- ification. The app is inspired from fitness app , as they often lead to durable behaviour changes, and their usage is growing.

The thesis will describe the app s concept and features. The thesis proposes a user interface which implements a part of DESENT s requirements. An app with those requirements was implemented, so as to add incrementally more features in the future. The thesis includes an evaluation of this app with multiple user testing sessions, involving both targeted users and experts.