Assessing user behaviour for changes in the design of energy using domestic products

This paper explores the contribution that user behaviour could make to the creation of new energy efficient products. It does this by first looking at the energy demand of 6 households then discusses the identification of the products with the highest potential for improvement. This is then narrowed down to products with a high energy impact and those where a high level of human interaction and use is also evident. A model for guiding design changes based on a theoretical minimum energy level for each product is presented. The paper ends with a behaviour based design assessment procedure based on the results of the 6 household study.