Gaming at work to save energy - Supporting behavioural change of occupants through cooperative games

Sammanfattning: Commercial buildings are one of the main contributors to energy consumption while both energy management and occupants’ consumption behaviour play crucial roles in how energy is consumed. This study explored the energy awareness of occupants in a commercial building with the goal to investigate how increased awareness could support behaviour change. For this purpose, a cooperative gamified visualization of energy consumption data, “EnerSpace”, is designed, implemented and evaluated. 8 occupants participated in this study who experienced a one-week baseline period and a one-week “EnerSpace” game period. In EnerSpace, the participants were divided into two teams and powered a spaceship with their energy saving respectively on a resource exploitation trip to Mars. Each participant had an avatar in the spaceship who introduced the participant’s personal consumption data. The energy conservation of the participants affects the moving speed of the spaceship and the living condition of their avatars. Participants were rewarded by a postcard sent by the avatars when reaching a destination. The results showed that the participants 1) decreased their energy consumption, 2) reported a fun and engaging experience with EnerSpace, and 3) felt motivated for energy conservation by different motives. This study indicated a potential for energy saving in a commercial building using a cooperative game.