Without knowing it, most of us already fine tune the performance of our home on a regular basis. This includes opening your windows to let in a cooling breeze, switching off an appliance because it’s not in use, or turning off your sprinklers because rain is expected. The question is, what else could we be doing to make our homes run more efficiently and how much of an effort will it take?
The results of the 10 household Living Labs study are in and the data is compelling. As expected, when given a little guidance and the right tools, occupant behaviour can be affected, but who could have predicted the impact on power and water use?
Other Living Labs Episodes
Series Introduction
Ten suburban homes sign up for a two-year experiment tracking their behaviour and collecting data in order to prove that small changes can result in big wins whether you are living in a high performance home or not. Episode 1 explains the research objective and introduces the participants.
Saving Energy
In this episode we take a closer look at energy use. We find out how much is being being used by the households and where the savings can be made. Participants set their goals and we find out if they achieve them.
Saving Water
In this episode we take a closer look at water use. The research team works with the householders to identify where savings can be made. We discover some surprising spikes in water use and help track down where the water is going.