Washing with the Wind

Abstract

Within sustainable HCI research, we have witnessed a growing interest in studying interaction designs that support households to 'shift' energy usage to times when it is sustainably favourable. In this paper, we investigate shifting through a purposely provocative and scripted design, which challenges the idea that renewable electricity is an alwaysavailable resource for households to consume. To do so, we made electricity for washing laundry either free or not available. We conducted a detailed qualitative study with four families that experienced our intervention for a month. We present five themes that illustrate how families adapted, reflected, and formed new routines and expectations related to washing practices. We discuss the broader implications of combining scripting and provocation as a means to intervene, disrupt and understand energy consuming practices within the home.

Debating (In)Justice of Energy Futures Through Design

“…Building on the rich body of design research challenging techo-determinist visions for energy futures (Hasselqvist et al, 2022;Snow et al, 2021;Desjardins et al, 2020;Pschetz et al, 2019;Jensen et al, 2018), this paper unfolded as a participatory design investigation where fictional artefacts were designed and used to spark debate about justice in energy futures, in Switzerland. Fictional design (and speculative design more broadly), in fact, was shown to be useful in participatory design to shift attention from dominant claims and narrow assumptions toward real-life concerns and everyday context, as collectively negotiated and contested imaginaries (Chopra et al, 2022).…”

“…In this landscape, design research is distinctively committed to challenging dominant techno-determinist ideas that present technologies (whether AI, 5G or blockchain) as the solution to environmental issues (Strangers et al, 2022). Through their projects, researchers have warned about how energy future discourses fail to address aspects of energy disruptions and unreliable access to electricity (Hasselqvist et al, 2022); others have questioned whether behavioural change strategies that seek to sensitise consumers to sustainable consumption can actually promote the desired change (Jensen et al, 2018;Snow et al, 2021); and some have raised concerns regarding the costs in terms of privacy that a transition towards a smart grid and smart products would entail (Snow et al, 2021;Desjardins et al, 2020;Pschetz et al, 2019).…”