Effects of smart appliances on residential consumption patterns

Despite the growing attention on environmental sustainability and technological advances to create new ways to reduce energy use, the U.S. remains the largest global energy consumer. Changing individuals´ patterns of consumption is crucial to addressing the issue. While smart appliances are becoming prominent in the consumer market, only a few studies have been focused on their ability to influence individual decision-making. Smart appliance technologies have data storage capabilities that can be remotely accessed through modern user interfaces. This affords the ability for data-driven decision making through visual analytics. When given quantitative results, consumers tend to be more aware of their consumption behavior. Smart appliances can be utilized to reduce individual energy usage through incentivizing savings, while reducing greenhouse emissions. Through a systems-based scenario analysis, this paper analyzes the consumption of three residential user categories. The data is aggregated to depict the cost of annual energy usage, which is then optimized to show areas for cost savings. The benefits of these behavioral changes can be further expanded through interdisciplinary approaches. Future enhancements to smart appliance applications are also explored, particularly in areas of user interface, design, and “gamification” of savings. These improvements, coupled with government home energy incentive programs, make the benefits of smart appliances more plausible. Empowering consumers with this technology can encourage sustainable behaviors that lead to reductions of the national carbon footprint.