Energy Feedback for Smart Grid Consumers: Lessons Learned from the Kukui Cup

To achieve the full benefits of the Smart Grid, end users must become active participants in the energy ecosystem. This paper presents the Kukui Cup challenge, a serious game designed around the topic of energy conservation which incorporates a variety of energy feedback visualizations, a multifaceted serious game with online educational activities, and real-world activities such as workshops and excursions. We describe our experiences in developing energy feedback visualizations in the Kukui Cup based on in-lab evaluations and field studies in college residence halls. We learned that energy feedback systems should address these factors: they should be actionable, that domain knowledge must go hand in hand with energy feedback systems, and that this feedback must be “sticky” to lead to changes in behaviors and attitudes. Keywords-Serious games; energy feedback; energy; energy literacy; smart grid.