Smarto

From problem statement to research questions

What stood out to us from our initial research was the surprising fact that Latvia’s energy consumption remains high despite a shrinking population.

Latvia faces a challenge with high household energy consumption, surpassing the EU average in cooking, heating, and water heating. Nationally, homes lead energy consumption at 29%, beating out transport, and industry and construction.

In Kuldīga, a significant local issue involves the energy-efficient renovation of historical buildings in the UNESCO Heritage List and the ageing Soviet-era built-ups to lower heat energy costs for its residents and municipality.

Despite a declining number of households, energy use remains high, revealing a lag in energy-saving efforts. A historical disconnect, stemming from Soviet times when energy was cheap or free, leaves many in the dark about energy sources, suppliers, and bills, and sceptical about energy-efficient products. This paradox became our central research goal, driving us to explore the underlying reasons for this disconnect.

Key insights

To gain a deep understanding of local energy use, we conducted ethnographic research with six households in Kuldīga. These households reflected a diversity in size, composition, education, and employment. Through cultural probes (i.e. energy diaries, photos and videos), contextual interviews, and home visits, we explored individual energy behaviours, awareness, perceptions, motivations, and the enablers and blockers they face. This process allowed us to test and validate our assumptions, as well as identify eight key insights for each research question. Then, we clustered them around the three research questions.

Through our contextual interviews and the energy diaries, we identified user behaviour patterns across diverse households, leading to the creation of two archetypes: The Consumption Detective and The Knowledge Seeker. With these, we then explored the level of stress caused by energy costs across different timelines. By examining both the historical context (meso level) and the year-to-year and daily experiences (micro level), we identified a clear connection between energy bills and stress levels.

Overlapping themes for HMWs

The insights we got served as the foundation upon which we crafted How Might We (HMW) questions. We reframed each insight statement into generative questions employing brainwriting, pairs discussions, affinity clustering and the World Café technique. After generating a large number of HMWs, we discarded duplicates and refined them to ensure each one targeted specific users, offered a range of potential solutions, focused on a desired outcome, and used positive phrasing. Through affinity clustering, we identified recurring themes and mapped their relationships.

Opportunity statement for ideation

Through extensive brainstorming and discussion, we diverged one last time to generate opportunity statements drawing on the two chosen HMWs, related What Ifs, and key elements from the IKEA Challenge Brief and the assessment criteria. This process culminated in the development of a final statement:

With this opportunity statement, we went into ideation, inviting local people to join our workshop where they participated in hands-on activities. This allowed us to observe their behaviours, gather their thoughts and ideas, and collect their creative drawings related to the opportunity statement. Then, we conducted team brainstorming, exploring various options, from board games to virtual reality, and from monitoring systems to energy cafés. Our initial prototype and testing focused on a smart kitchen appliance rental subscription service. We learnt that (1) people aren’t open to rent appliances, (2) they want to know the specific energy consumption of each appliance, (3) comparisons are more effective than detailed numerical data, (4) practical steps and tips help people take control, and (5) savings and impacts are more meaningful when framed in the context of the user’s home or local community.

Smarto, a smart energy kit

The Smarto service delivers the insights and needs we discovered from the residents of Kuldīga over the course of six months. It is an educational kit, making energy use tangible and intuitive. It helps people track their consumption, set goals, and receive feedback and actionable tips through clear comparisons and visualisations. Our approach allows people to experience energy firsthand and make informed choices to save money while maintaining a comfortable home. Saving money, maintaining home comfort, and doing the right thing should be easy and go hand-in-hand. Smarto is:

People-centric: Designed based on the needs and habits of a cross-section of 48 Kuldīga residents (shared by other Latvians and possibly residents of other EU countries). It tackles their confusion and stress over energy use and spending;

Society-oriented: Based on the context and insights from residents of a small rural town in Latvia, where average salaries and pensions are low, and their needs tend to be overlooked. The free trial helps those who might not afford the service, and the trade-in option makes Smarto cheaper for some;

Experience-based: All about helping people experience and connect with energy through a DIY kit, including an interesting object to live with every day, illuminating their space with colour-coded delineations of real-time energy use. An expanded version of the existing IKEA Home Smart mobile app offers goal-setting, nudges, actionable tips, and achievement badges to keep people engaged and motivated;

Experience-based: Uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help people make sense of their energy use without requiring technical knowledge or manual monitoring;

Circular & sustainable: Encourages better daily energy choices that can contribute to the fight against climate change and address the energy crisis. The kit trade-in option promotes recycling and reusing.

Documentation