Abstract: Solar panels add a time component to the energy provision of households. Households equipped with solar systems will experience days and hours of abundance, during which they generate a surplus of electricity, as well as times when they need to purchase power from the grid. This creates opportunities for households to utilize more ”free” energy when it is available by shifting activities in time, but while this may be possible for some activities, other practices may be seen as non-negotiable. We report on the deployment of an in-home display installed in nine households with solar panels in the south of Sweden. We conducted two sets of interviews: one before installing the display and another four months post-installation. Our results confirm that the negotiability of a certain energy practice may vary between different households. Washing, dishwashing and charging EV were seen as negotiable by everyone, whereas cooking and hot water use were seen as non-negotiable by most, but not all, the households. The in-home display worked as expected as a trigger and provided feedback for helping shifting the negotiable practices, but not for non-negotiable and it was appreciated by the users for its simplicity.

Abstract: Learning about the energy use of everyday activities might seem straightforward, but research has revealed that such information is often forgotten quickly. Numerous efforts have been made to utilize visualizations to enhance such learning, but they have yielded limited results. In contrast, we have developed an interactive non-digital learning experience for teaching energy literacy, with the goal of fostering more memorable and long-lasting learning experiences. Our interactive experience relies on elements of surprise and embodied learning by employing physicalized data and utilizing weight as a medium. We introduce the concept of "Black Boxes" that represent the energy use of specific everyday activities. Learners can physically lift and manipulate these boxes, often leading to surprise and sparking curiosity about underlying facts.