Energy consumption in buildings depends on the local climate, building characteristics, and user behavior. Focusing on user interaction, this research work developed a novel approach to monitoring and interaction with local users by providing in situ context information through graphic descriptions of energy consumption and indoor/outdoor environment parameters: temperature, luminosity, and humidity, which are routinely measured in real-time and stored to identify consumption patterns and other savings actions. To involve local users, collected data are represented in 3D color representation using building 3d models. A simplified color scale depicts environmental comfort (low/comfortable/high temperature/relative humidity) and energy consumption (above/below usual patterns). We found that these indices induced user commitment and increased their engagement and participation in saving actions like turning off lights and better management of air conditioning systems.

This research was funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through ISTAR’s project UIDB/04466/2020 and UIDP/04466/2020. J.C.F. received support from the Portuguese National Funds through FITEC—Programa Interface, with reference CIT INOV—I

Internet of things,Sustainability,Building monitoring,Smart cities,Environmental conditions,Data analysis

• Chemical Sciences - Natural Sciences
• Earth and related Environmental Sciences - Natural Sciences
• Other Natural Sciences - Natural Sciences
• Environmental Engineering - Engineering and Technology
• Social and Economic Geography - Social Sciences