Buried Light

Making energy consumption visible, 2004

A new ambient display concept presented at the V&A's Friday Night Late View on the 27th March 2004 to tie in with the contemporary exhibition Brilliant and kindly sponsored by Graham and Brown.

For this installation wallpaper was used as a dynamic and expressive surface providing unobtrusive information about domestic energy consumption. The surface visualises and reflects the daily usage of electrical power through growing patterns that are in constant flux.

Throughout the installation you could interact with familiar electrical appliances to experience the accumulative power draw with the aim to create a tangible experience. As appliances are switched on and used the total power results in an overall pattern and colour change on the wallpaper surface.

This research project stems from an interest in visual information and sustainability issues surrounding the integration of electronic material into our environment. The interest in visualising and quantifying this information on a domestic level was fuelled by a study by Jeffrey S Dukes titled ‘Burning Buried Sunshine: Human consumption of ancient solar energy’. Dukes has been researching the origins of fossil fuels and how plants use photosynthesis to turn the sun's energy into carbon which is then converted into gas, oil or coal. Dukes calculated how much original plant matter was responsible for the fossil fuel we are burning today with alarming results such as 25 tonnes of plant matter were required to make just one litre of petrol. We are interested in how a tangible understanding of such figures can affect our behaviour within our homes and that by having a constant real time display we may adopt and adjust our actions.

Conventional interior objects and surfaces such as wallpaper and lighting could become expressive, communicative interfaces that facilitate the flow of data within our built environment to increase our understanding and awareness of electrical energy.

BlumenWallpaper can be used to display energy consumption

With time your subconscious awareness of this changing pattern should transform into an intuitive understanding of your everyday relationship and interaction to your environment. Globally, domestic energy consumption is rapidly increasing substantially due to the increase of consumer electronics. Many of our electronic appliances are constantly drawing from our depleting energy supply with 20 percent of the electricity used by appliances being lost while they are sitting in the standby mode. The biggest loss of standby power is referred to as "leaking electricity" and occurs in modern consumer electronics such as Video equipment, TVs, VCRs, cable boxes and satellite dishes and account for the largest part of the “leak” with 35 percent. Audio equipment makes up another 25 percent of standby losses; a small compact audio unit can draw 9 watts while it's turned off. 93 percent of a stereo's energy use occurs when the unit is switched off as most listeners only use their stereos an hour a day. If we were visually and ‘ambiently’ reminded of this waste then there could be a significant decrease in power usage.

This installation used Richard Woods Wattson power meter measuring power consumption of several or individual appliances. For further details on this power meter please contact Richard Woods and Greta Corke at info@diykyotoNOSPAM.com

the wattson meter

• http://www.diykyoto.com/

Many Thanks to Graham & Brown who have kindly supported this research project

• http://www.grahambrown.com

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