I-Greta research seminar at HSB Living Lab
How does an ordinary Gothenburg citizen use their dishwasher? And what is required for the habits to become more sustainable? It is the focus of an ongoing study at Chalmers, among others else HSB Living Lab is used as the testers.
I-Greta project is part of a larger study at EU level, where Chalmers and HSB Living Lab are in charge of End-User study on Human-Machine Interfaces for energy flexibility study. During the reseach seminar at HSB Living Lab the recent study on the usage of the dishwaher and impact of smart interface on the dishwasher-related behaviourt change.
On a macro level, we want to investigate how energy use in residential buildings can become more sustainable. In order to do that, we need to narrow down the question. A dishwasher is something that is found in many Swedish households, and we also know that most people use it in a non-sustainable way. By using the dishwasher as a starting point, the project has been divided into three phases. First, data is collected about what people’s washing habits look like, when they use the dishwasher and how. In the second phase, information is given on how to use the machine in a more sustainable way. Here, it is above all a question of turning on the dishwasher during the hours of the day when the electricity grid is least loaded. The most expensive and when the most energy is used is during the morning and evening. One tip that the I-Greta project gives is to turn on the dishwasher at night instead. In the third phase, one examines whether the habits have actually changed.
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Elena Malakhatka
Postdoctoral researcher
My research interests include User Research, Applied behaviour science to the built environment and Human-Building Interaction (HBI)