Energy conservation can mitigate significant issues such as climate change and fuel poverty, yet the determinants of this behaviour are poorly understood. It is important to understand the antecedents of energy conservation in order to effectively stimulate this behaviour in society. Traditional models have focused on normative and intentional processes to explain environmental behaviour, but have proven largely unsuccessful for predicting energy use. Considering that day-to-day energy behaviour is likely to be habitual and context dependent, models such as the Comprehensive Action Determination Model (CADM, Klöckner & Blöbaum, 2010), which have integrated these factors with more traditional antecedents of behaviour, may better account for people’s actions. The early research in this thesis tests the application of this model to energy saving behaviour using a mixed-methods approach. Findings show that such a model is suitable to account for the drivers of energy behaviour, particularly because of the important role of habits and situational influences on this behaviour. Although this model can successfully predict daily energy behaviours that involve the routine curtailment of household energy use, one-off energy efficiency investment behaviours are unlikely to be determined by the variables considered by the CADM. That is, these behaviours may be more dependent on people’s understanding of the energy consumption in their household, or their energy literacy. Therefore, the second part of this thesis investigates the cognitive processes that inform conscious energy judgements to explore the antecedents of this energy literacy. The studies in this thesis uncover an unprecedented variety of energy judgement heuristics in this decision-making process, and these heuristics are further investigated, again using various methods. This thesis concludes that, to maximally facilitate energy conservation, the habitual and situational antecedents of energy saving behaviour, as captured in such frameworks as the CADM, need to be considered alongside the cognitive processes that shape people’s energy literacy when designing effective energy conservation interventions that target both routine and non-routine actions.

Energy is one of the most critical elements that support societies in the modern world. As with anything else, energy is a limited resource, and saving it is essential for a fossil-free future where one is aware of their energy consumption and knows what is needed to save it. Recently, Europe has been faced with severe energy shortages where Sweden for example was under the threat of blackouts in 2022/2023. As a way to mitigate the problem, The EU introduced a law that obliges individuals and institutions to reduce their energy consumption during peak hours. In Sweden, this was translated into “Varje kWh räknas” or every kilowatt-hour counts campaign in order to promote energy saving in society. Uppsala university is one of the institutions that had to reduce the energy consumption where students play a role in this energy saving. On the other hand, energy literacy is defined as the way people understand energy, how it is being used, and the attitudes regarding saving it. Previous research (such as Cotton et al., 2015; DeWaters and Powers, 2011; Blasch et al., 2017) about energy literacy tended to focus on various societal groups when investigating the three different domains of energy literacy: cognitive, attitude, and behavior. The cognitive domain is defined as the knowledge related to energy basic rules and concepts, while the affective domain is defined as the attitudes toward energy such as beliefs, values, feelings, etc. Behavioral literacy is the intentions, involvement, and decisions one makes in relation to energy and energy saving. This study aims to explore themes and opinions in energy behaviour, perception, and literacy among students in order to understand the current ways energy literacy is being promoted and taught at Uppsala University and the wayes to imporove it. This was done by providing answer to the resurch question: What cognitive, behavioural, and affective knowledge do students have about the nature and role of energy in their daily lives?In this study, students at Uppsala University, Campus Gotland were interviewed and asked questions about energy and their energy-related attitude and behavior. The data was collected via interviews and then analyzed thematically. The discovered themes varied from students covering the cognitive domain elements to the difference in themes in relation to affective and behavioral domains. Students in general talked about energy in relation to factors that would affect energy behavior and would in turn contribute to saving energy like education. Students also covered various forms of feelings related to energy like anger, fear, and hopefulness. Additionally, various factors showed different patterns when talking about energy-related behavior, energy-saving ivattitudes, and the general perception of the relation between knowing about energy and the attitude and behavior domain. When covering the role of Uppsala University, all students have illustrated the importance of introducing energy-related education to the official curriculum, as well as other methods related to Uppsala University to increase energy knowledge amongst students.

In many US homes, 15% of the energy that can be saved is hidden beneath complex mathematical calculations. Hidden energy savings can be revealed by converting mathematical calculations to data visualizations, creating a story for residents to see how they are consuming energy. Cloud-based data visualization platforms offer the ability to appropriately communicate complex building energy data to a broad set of stakeholders. Unfortunately, proprietary solutions are too expensive and open-source options lack standardization for cloud-based energy monitoring. This study aims to create a comprehensive energy dashboard display to increase residents' energy awareness of how energy is consumed throughout their homes. But before energy dashboards can be created, a content analysis of current visualization chart types used on utility bills and energy monitoring devices were discovered to see how energy data has been visualized in the energy domain. Next, a literature review was conducted to reveal other visualization chart types outside of the energy domain that could be used to visualize energy data. The content analysis results identified eight visualization chart types that are used on utility bills and energy monitoring devices. In addition, the literature review uncovered eight additional visualization chart types that have the functionality to visualize energy data. Next, the visualization chart types were combined with data modeling design techniques to create prototype energy dashboard displays to communicate energy insights to residents. Soon utility companies will begin to provide data visualizations for the majority of their customers. The insights from this study can help to inform and lead the development of commercially used data visualizations. In addition, this research can provide utility companies with a blueprint on how to share energy consumption data with customers. / Master of Science / For residents to live an energy-efficient lifestyle, they must first begin by learning about one's energy consumption behaviors in the home. Unfortunately, utility bills miss out on communicating energy insights to customers based on how the energy data appears on the utility bill. Graphs on utility bills that display aggregate monthly energy consumption do not provide enough information for residents to comprehend how energy is consumed through their homes or provide information on how to lower energy consumption. There are commercial energy consumption devices on the market such as CURB and eGauge that provide an energy dashboard display, but the visuals are too complex to draw conclusions. This study aims to create an energy dashboard display that allows residents to see how energy is consumed throughout their homes. But before energy dashboards can be created, a content analysis of current visualization chart types used on utility bills and energy monitoring devices were discovered to see how energy data has been visualized in the energy domain. Next, a literature review was conducted to reveal other visualization chart types outside of the energy domain that could be used to visualize energy data. The content analysis results identified eight chart types used of utility bills and energy monitoring devices. In addition, the literature review results uncovered eight additional chart types not used on utility bills and energy monitoring devices that have the potential to visualize energy data. Next, the identified and uncovered chart types were combined with data modeling design techniques to create example energy dashboard displays. Changing the way energy data is displayed to residents, can educate residents on how energy is consumed throughout their home. In addition, the insights from this study can provide utility companies with a model for displaying energy data to increase their customers' energy awareness. Living an energy-efficient lifestyle, first began by understanding how energy is consumed throughout one's home.

This study explores the design and effectiveness of a serious board game aimed at promoting energy literacy in the context of residential energy consumption. With electricity consumption and energy conservation being highly relevant and pressing topics today, there is a growing need to address the lack of knowledge and awareness surrounding household energy consumption. Serious games, recognized as effective educational tools for active learning, offer a promising avenue for teaching energy-related concepts. Through a thematic analysis, this thesis examines the impact of different game mechanics on players’ development of energy literacy. The findings demonstrate that integrating these game mechanics facilitates knowledge acquisition, evokes emotional responses, and prompts self-reflection. By incorporating elements for data physicalization, such as a hand-gripper to represent energy consumption, user engagement, and learning outcomes are enhanced. The study highlights the potential of educational games in fostering energy literacy and shaping individual energy consumption habits. Future research can explore combining digital and physical components in serious games to optimize educational impact further and advance energy literacy initiatives. / Denna studie utforskar designen och effektiviteten hos ett serious game med syfte att främja energy literacy. Elkonsumtion och energisparande är högaktuella ämnen och idag finns det ett växande behov av att åtgärda bristen på kunskap kring energikomsumptionen i hushåll. Serious games har klivit fram som effektiva pedagogiska verktyg för aktivt lärande och erbjuder en lovande väg för att undervisa om energirelaterade begrepp. Genom en tematisk analys undersöker denna avhandling effekten av olika spelmekanismer på spelarnas utveckling kring energy literacy. Resultaten visar att integrering av dessa spelmekanismer underlättar lärade, leder till känslomässig respons samt stimulerar självreflektion. Inlärning och engagemang förbättras genom att inkludera objekt för att representera data fysiskt, såsom en handtränare. Studien lyfter fram potentialen hos serious games för att främja energy literacy och forma goda energikonsumtionsvanor. Framtida forskning kan utforska om kombinationen av digitala och fysiska komponenter i ett serious game ytterligare hade förbättrat läroeffekten och främjat vidareutveckling av ens energy literacy.

Increasing concerns on the effect of climate change is arousing the awareness of sustainability all over the world, and plenty of measures have been taken to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing energy consumption through behavior change of residents presents a promising opportunity to save energy significantly. This project is focused on designing a choice-based interactive game to support increased energy literacy of Chinese youths, especially in the kitchen of Chinese households. With an interactive narrative prototype evaluated by 11 participants through interviews and surveys, learning outcomes and feedback were collected and considerations in the design process were figured out. The result indicates the potential of enhancing energy literacy with such an interactive game based on point collecting, but a more interesting protostory, suitable difficulty levels and freedom of interaction is significant to the general experience and effect. / En ökande oro för effekterna av klimatförändringar väcker medvetenheten om hållbarhet över hela världen, och många åtgärder har vidtagits för att minska utsläppen av växthusgaser. Att minska energiförbrukningen genom invånarnas beteendeförändring ger en lovande möjlighet att spara energi avsevärt. Detta projekt är fokuserat på att designa ett valbaserat interaktivt spel för att stödja ökad energikunskap hos kinesiska ungdomar, särskilt i köket hos kinesiska hushåll. Med en interaktiv narrativ prototyp utvärderad av 11 deltagare genom intervjuer och enkäter, samlades läranderesultat och feedback in och överväganden i designprocessen har klurats ut. Resultatet indikerar potentialen för att förbättra energikunnigheten med ett sådant interaktivt spel baserat på poänginsamling, men en mer intressant protostory, lämpliga svårighetsgrader och interaktionsfrihet har betydelse för den allmänna upplevelsen och effekten.