# Home Energy > By David Bingham · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/ > Work by David Bingham. The idea of a “smart grid” arose when the delivery of electricity merged with modern information technology. GE approached this opportunity by designing smart appliances, thermostats, and display devices that optimize energy use and keep users in control of their resource consumption. I led the overall design effort directing internal and external resources in research, industrial design, app & product interfaces, and system structure. The result won favor with utility companies and captured dozens of patents. This period set the basis for GE’s additional connected home efforts in consumer convenience and preventative maintenance. - **Role:** Home Energy Design Manager - **Period:** 2007–2011 - **Client:** GE Appliances ## Home Energy Block `home-energy/opener` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#opener This is the opening image for Home Energy, my work at GE Appliances from 2007 to 2011 on demand-side management for the home. I chose a wall of GE meters because the project began where the utility meets the house. - Image: A wall of round General Electric kilowatt-hour meters in rows, photographed in black and white. Empowering people to understand and control their energy resources. ## Utilities Block `home-energy/utilities` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#utilities The problem in one line, as I put it in my 2022 deck. Utilities had no way to manage demand once electricity passed the meter, and that gap is what the whole program set out to close. Utility companies lack tools to manage rising residential energy demand. ## Demand Block `home-energy/demand` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#demand Three charts that set out the problem. Demand peaks in the afternoon and time-of-use pricing follows it, yet industry and commerce manage their energy while homes, the largest buyer, do not. - Image: Line chart of kW demand across the time of day, rising to a peak between 13:00 and 18:00, shaded red above a flat line, then falling steeply into the evening. — Peak grid demand at mid-day - Image: Bar chart of time-of-use pricing across the time of day: 10¢ in green, 15¢ in yellow, 20¢ in amber, a 30¢ peak in red, then 20¢ and 10¢ again. — Variable pricing incentive to match demand - Image: Three buildings, each with a flag: an industrial plant and a commercial building marked Energy Managed in green, a house marked Not Managed in orange. Beneath, sales and price per kWh: industrial 1.01 at $0.0636, $64.2 B; commercial 1.34 at $0.0967, $129.6 B; residential, in bold, 1.39 at $0.1064, $147.9 B. — *In trillions. Source: Energy Information Administration, AER ## Hydro Block `home-energy/hydro` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#hydro Two charts that put a number on shedding. Nine home appliances by ownership and peak power, and US generating capacity by source: if a fifth of US homes each shed two kilowatts, that is 49 million kilowatts, about half of US hydroelectric capacity. - Image: Bar chart of US generating capacity in million kilowatts by source, from other at 3 and solar at 1 up to coal at 314 and gas at 395, with a green DSM bar of 49 between wind at 16 and petro at 58, about half of hydro at 100. - Image: Two bar charts on one axis of nine appliances, from range to fridge: ownership above in blue, 50% to 100%, and peak power below in teal, from 14,500 watts for the range, 5,400 for the dryer and 4,500 for the water heater down to 685 for the fridge. — Source: Energy Information Administration, AER 20% of US homes, each shedding 2kW = 1/2 US hydro-electric production ## Question Block `home-energy/question` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#question GE's net zero home diagram places the Home Energy Manager at the center of the house. I used it to frame the design question I was actually asking: how to get the most benefit for the person living there, not just for the utility. - Image: Cutaway illustration of a GE net zero energy home with callouts for the Home Energy Manager, smart meter, solar, small wind, geothermal heat pumps, a heat pump water heater, water filtration, energy storage, efficient lighting and demand response appliances. How to maximize the user benefit of an energy management system? ## Gen1 Block `home-energy/gen1` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#gen1 The Eco Dashboard, the first generation, on the wall, beside four of its redesigned screens: home, HVAC control, and energy and water by week. - Image: A wall-mounted touchscreen in a beige frame showing the ecomagination dashboard: green tabs down the left and a year-to-date savings screen of 41 dollars, 21 and 4 cars. — Original touchpanel from GE Security business. - Image: The redesigned home screen: Eco Home, Lighting, Climate, Music, Security and Scenes as large icon buttons. - Image: Climate screen for the Loft at 76 degrees, with heat, cool, auto and off, fan auto and fan on, inside 77 and outside 102. - Image: Energy screen with daily, weekly and monthly tabs and a weekly line chart of electricity consumption in orange and solar generation in yellow. - Image: Water screen with a weekly line chart of water consumption in blue. *Home screen, HVAC control, Energy & Water usage.* ## Iphone screens Block `home-energy/iphone-screens` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#iphone-screens Two screens of the phone interface I designed for the 2008 demo, shown on an original iPhone: the refrigerator at 130 watts set to Normal, and the water heater at 4,200 watts set to High. - Image: An original iPhone showing the refrigerator screen: 130 watts on a green-to-red gauge from 100 to 250, an Eco, Normal and High selector with Normal chosen, and refrigerator, lighting and water heater buttons along the foot. - Image: An original iPhone showing the water heater screen: 4,200 watts near the top of a gauge from 800 to 4,500, an Eco and High selector with High chosen, and the three appliance buttons. After the iPhone was announced, I designed a simple prototype for senior leadership to experience appliance control and energy information in the palm of their hand. In collaboration with the R&D team, we connected multiple appliances via Zigbee to a laptop that interpreted two-way communication in Labview, then ported it through a local-running webserver and wifi network. As I presented the concept, I asked if anyone in the audience had an iPhone (they were still brand new at this time). The phone connected to the laptop wifi and webserver and presented functional control and energy data. Executives could tap the phone screen and see the appliances adjust right there in the room. It was the start of GE appliance IoT and remote control. ## Iphone grc Block `home-energy/iphone-grc` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#iphone-grc The two demos built at the research center in the spring of 2008. The first read watts and state from a refrigerator, a bulb and a water heater; the second added ZigBee, LabVIEW control software, an Apache web server and WiFi, and a touchscreen. - Image: A laptop linked by dotted red lines to a refrigerator, a bulb and a water heater, with the bullets watts used and current state, and a photograph of the lab rig: a rack, a stainless refrigerator and a water heater. - Image: The same rig with the laptop also linked to a touchscreen, above four boxes, ZigBee communication, National Instruments LabVIEW control software, Apache web server and WiFi network, credited to Innovation Electronics, Brian Schork and Millika Patel, and Advanced IT, Byron Guernsey. ## Hem Block `home-energy/hem` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#hem The Home Energy Manager as rendered, its edge lighting glowing green: a redesign of the Eco Dashboard that mounted on a wall or stood alone on one power-over-ethernet cable, its touchscreen optional, the light and sound carrying energy and water use. - Image: Rendering of the white Home Energy Manager touchscreen on a gray wall, its top and bottom edges glowing green, showing Resources, Thermostat, Weather and Appliances panels. The Home Energy Manager was a complete redesign of the original Eco Dashboard. This device could be attached to a wall or sit self-standing, both setups using a single power-over-ethernet cable for easy installation. Following our iPhone prototype, the HEM touchscreen was now optional with the faceless version providing ambient lighting and audio to communicate energy and water usage. ## Hem renders Block `home-energy/hem-renders` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#hem-renders Three renderings of the Home Energy Manager: the faceless version standing alone, the touchscreen version standing alone, and the touchscreen mounted on a wall, each lit green along its edges. - Image: The faceless Home Energy Manager standing on its edge: a white slab with no screen, lit green along its side. — HEM without screen standing upright. - Image: The touchscreen Home Energy Manager standing on a surface at an angle, its dark screen framed in white, lit green along its top and bottom edges. — HEM with screen on table surface. - Image: The touchscreen Home Energy Manager mounted on a white wall, seen from the side, green light spilling onto the wall above and below it. — HEM mounted to wall. Credit: Elliott Koehler ## Hem spec Block `home-energy/hem-spec` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#hem-spec Two pages of the Eco Home browser specification I wrote with Joanne Jochimowitz in May 2009: the common components, from colors and type to buttons and error messages, and the Eco Home charts with their mouse-over states. - Image: Specification page 1 of 7, Eco Home Controller common components, 21 May 2009: color swatches, type sizes, browser backgrounds, an error message, drop-downs, tool tips, unit selection buttons, and buttons, graph buttons, info buttons and navigation buttons in their up, over and down states, around a screen of the browser view. — Browser-based interface and complete HEM design system language. - Image: Specification page 3 of 7, Eco Home: the browser view of the Eco Home chart, an annotated chart of electricity, water and solar over a day with bar details, and two columns of chart states and mouse-over states with their annotations. — Energy and water monitoring specification and data visualization. ## Nav wall Block `home-energy/nav-wall` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#nav-wall Printed screens pinned to a wall with string and sticky notes in May 2009, while we reorganised the browser navigation. Working at this scale let the team move whole screens between sections and see the result at once. - Image: Printed Eco Home screens pinned to a gray fabric wall under string, with a blue sticky note and handwritten marks. - Image: Printed Eco Home and Appliances screens pinned under string, with blue sticky notes and a handwritten page headed Appliances. - Image: A pinned summary screen with thermostat and weather, two navigation bars below it, a sticky note and a hand-drawn Appliances page. - Image: Five printed thermostat screens pinned under string, showing schedules, hold and day-select views. *True-sized images of the HEM touchscreen were printed out for feedback and evaluation.* ## Hem touch spec Block `home-energy/hem-touch-spec` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#hem-touch-spec The menu map I drew for the Home Energy Manager's touchscreen in October 2009, for the Masdar City version: the summary screens, resources by energy, water and cooling from yearly to daily, history, appliances with demand response settings, weather and the thermostat. - Image: Home Energy Manager menu map for the LCD touchscreen, Masdar City version, October 2009: three summary screens at the top linked to grids of resource screens for energy, water and cooling at yearly, monthly, weekly and daily views, a column of history charts, appliance screens with pie charts and demand response settings, a weather forecast, and thermostat screens with hold options and a weekly schedule, with notes on what each touch does. — Full touch-screen specification. The browser and touchscreen interfaces share a common design language. ## Hem results Block `home-energy/hem-results` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#hem-results What became of the Home Energy Manager, as a record: the utility pilot in Louisville, its public debut in July 2009, the Masdar City field test, the small run built for pilots and prototyping, and four patent filings. - **Utility pilot in Louisville** — From late 2008 · Louisville Gas & Electric — GE employees in Louisville lived with demand response appliances, a smart meter, tiered pricing and an in-home energy monitor on the kitchen counter. Six months in, participants reported savings of up to 20 percent, and most “liked the control” of using their appliances when they needed them; the dishwasher and laundry were the hardest to shift. One of them: “Watching that meter has driven behavior changes in my house that have resulted in reduced energy consumption.” - [GE release, May 2009](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ge-smart-appliances-empower-users-save-money-reduce-need-additional-energy) - [GE release, November 2009](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/demand-ges-smart-appliances-increases-smart-grid-pilot-programs) - **Public debut** — July 2009 · GE Global Research — GE introduced the Home Energy Manager at its smart grid symposium as “the central nervous system for the Net Zero Energy Home”, due “as early as 2010” and, in its own note, dependent on utility participation. CleanTechnica and phys.org carried the story. - [GE release](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ge-unveils-net-zero-energy-home-concept-and-launches-new-smart-grid-projects) - [CleanTechnica](https://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/22/ge-ecomagines-the-net-zero-all-electric-home/) - [phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2009-07-electric-net-zero-energy-home.amp) - **Field test in Masdar City** — October 2009 · Masdar and GE — Ten of the Masdar Institute’s 100 residences took a Home Energy Manager and European-size demand response appliances for a two-year pilot, GE’s first outside the US, built for the purpose. Its stated aim was early feedback on how residents use energy when the grid can ask them to wait. Masdar’s CEO, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, called it “a significant milestone” toward the city as “a unique metropolitan-scale test bed for these new technologies.” - [GE release](https://dubaichronicle.com/2009/10/04/masdar-city-and-ge-partner-on-a-first-of-its-kind-smart-appliance-pilot-program) - [Reliable Plant](https://www.reliableplant.com/Articles/Print/20428) - **Pilots and prototypes** — 2009 – 2010 · GE Appliances — A small quantity were produced for utility pilots and development team prototyping. - **Four patent filings** — Filed 2009 – 2010 · US patents — The home energy manager system, a critical peak pricing audio alert, the screensaver and water leak detection. - [Patents](/davidbingham/patents/) ## Energy display Block `home-energy/energy-display` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#energy-display The stand-alone energy display, held in the hand while it pairs with a smart meter, and from behind with its knob ring lit. It came out of the utility pilots, and the dial, two buttons and coloured lighting are what remained after many concepts and research sessions. - Image: A hand holds the white energy display on a wooden table, its knob glowing red; the screen asks to what device you will pair this display, Smart Meter or Nucleus. - Image: The display from behind on a wooden table, its knob ring glowing orange-red and casting light on the wood, a black cable plugged into its base. In response to utility pilot projects, the energy display is a simple stand-alone product that receives information directly from the smart meter. Numerous design concepts and user research sessions led to a simple dial and two button navigation model with multi-color product lighting to communicate utility variable rates. ## Affordances Block `home-energy/affordances` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#affordances My March 2010 navigation sketch beside two views each of the first two case concepts. The sketch works out what rotating and pressing the dial does on every screen; the concepts give that dial a body, first as a knob at the side, then as two tactile buttons with the knob moved to the back. - Image: Hand-drawn navigation sketch signed David Bingham, 29 March 2010: five screens across the top and rows showing how rotating and pressing the dial moves the highlight. — Interaction design sketches defining the product control. - Image: Energy display concept 1 from the front: a dark screen with a round knob and a green strip at the right. - Image: Concept 1 from behind, with the callout that it sits back 20 degrees. - Image: Concept 2 angled, with callouts for the two tactile buttons, green edges and branding. - Image: Concept 2 from behind, showing a large round knob and a mini-USB jack at the base. *Industrial design concepts synced to the control design. Credit: Elliott Koehler* ## Spec run Block `home-energy/spec-run` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#spec-run Page one of four versions of my In-Home Display specification, April 2010 to March 2011. Read left to right the page turns from a screen into a system: the notes begin as complaints about my own layout and end as colour values, input models and the copy for the day a utility takes to connect. The Energy Display UI design evolved through 17 versions of the specification. 4 of 17 versions · 13 Apr 2010 – 29 Mar 2011 - **v0 · 13 Apr 2010** — Initial spec building off of interaction sketch. - Image: Spec page v0, 13 April 2010: six small screen mock-ups in a row with cloud-shaped notes, and two scanned pen sketches of screen layouts below. - **v6 · 2 Jul 2010** — Adding LED lighting definition. - Image: Spec page v6, 2 July 2010: a setup flowchart of boxes from language choice to smart meter connection, and a top-level row of seven screens below. - **v12 · 15 Sep 2010** — Detailing corner-cases and content. - Image: Spec page v12, 15 September 2010: a dense setup flow with pink and yellow callouts, a strip of help screens, and the seven top-level screens beneath. - **v16 · 29 Mar 2011** — Final spec with full design standards. - Image: Spec page v16, 29 March 2011: the seven top-level screens, a message bubble model, a stepper model, a colour values table and a character input model. ## Ui spec Block `home-energy/ui-spec` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#ui-spec The specification open on my screen: page 1 of the eight that carried the display's color values, input models and every state. - Image: A Mac Preview window showing page 1 of 8 of IHD_v16: a row of seven screens, a colour values table and small input-model diagrams, with page thumbnails down the left. ## Display testing Block `home-energy/display-testing` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#display-testing How the Energy Display was tested and what each test changed: a human factors review, usability sessions with ten people, and mock-up rounds with the manufacturer. Testing and feedback - Test - Question - Result - **Heuristic review** — Does the working prototype meet GE’s human factors guidelines for legibility, clarity and control? — 14 of 23 guidelines passed. The stiff keypad became tactile buttons, and only the current rate tile lights. - **Usability sessions** — Asked to 10 participants: What should it tell you, where would it live, what does the dial do, and do the screens make sense? — Half touched the screen first. “Current Usage,” labeled axes, and the number and needle both kept, as people asked. - **Hardware refinement** — Can the case, knob and light be built as drawn, and stand steady on a kitchen counter? — Light bleeding through the case was blocked, the knob thinned, and a wobbling fifth foot came off. ## Screens Block `home-energy/screens` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#screens Four screens from version 14 of the display interface at full size. Each gives one number its own screen, with the dollars-or-kilowatts switch in the same corner every time; the callouts are the descriptions I wrote into the spec. - **Current Usage** — See your immediate energy consumption in terms of dollars or kWh. - Image: Current Usage screen: 3.76 kW in large black type, a green needle on a 0 to 10 dial, four rate tiles with yellow lit at $0.13/kWh, and a dollars-or-kilowatts switch. - **History - Day** — A whole day’s worth of energy use hour by hour. - Image: History - Day screen: a green line of kilowatts across 24 hours peaking near 15 in the evening, dated Mar 30, 2011, with a total of 172 kWh. - **History - Month** — Energy use per day over each month. - Image: History - Month screen: green bars of kilowatt-hours for each day of March 2011, mostly 50 to 100, with a total of 849 kWh. - **Stopwatch** — Use the Stopwatch to measure a period of energy use. - Image: Stopwatch screen: usage since 12:59pm on Mar 28, 2011 reading 7.04 kW, with a red Stop button. ## Display press Block `home-energy/display-press` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#display-press Three renders of the Energy Display: from the front on the Current screen, from the side on History, and from behind, its green-lit knob ring at one end. - Image: Render of the white Energy Display from the front on white: the Current screen reading 3.72 kW beside a dial gauge, two square buttons at the left and a green-lit knob ring at the right. - Image: Render of the display from the right, leaning back on its foot, showing a History - Day line chart, the knob's green ring glowing at its side. - Image: Render of the display from behind: a plain white back and foot, a small socket on the base, and the green-lit knob ring at the left edge. ## Display results Block `home-energy/display-results` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#display-results What became of the Energy Display, as a record: its launch at CES in January 2011, its place in GE's utility pilot kit, two patent filings on its interface, and its showing in Europe. - **Launch at CES** — January 2011 · CES, Las Vegas — GE introduced the display as new at CES: it “communicates with the utility smart meter” and gives “a continuous audit of household energy consumption in kilowatt-hours and in estimated dollars spent.” The launch listed live use and cost, the current time-of-use price, history by month, day and hour, analysis over any period, and messages from the utility. - [GE release](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ge-technology-empower-connected-home-future-unveiled-consumer-electronics-show) - [Appliancist](https://appliancist.com/?p=2649) - **In the utility pilot kit** — 2011 – 2012 · GE Brillion pilots — GE put the display in its utility pilot kit as the “In home Color display”, plugged into the wall beside the energy manager, a thermostat and smart appliances, and certified by UL, CSA, FCC and ZigBee. The pilots ran with investor-owned utilities, cooperatives and municipals, “from a few homes to over a 1,000.” - [GE deck, ERCOT workshop](https://www.ercot.com/files/docs/2011/08/25/6.6_ge_texas_presentation_workshop_083011.pdf) - [GE deck](https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/12/f6/brillion_technology.pdf) - **Two patent filings** — Filed September 2011 · US patents — The Stopwatch screen became a granted patent: start, stop, and the energy and cost of one task, on “an energy display … coupled to the smart meter” (US8769426B2, 2014). Its sibling, filed the same day, totals use between any two dates (US20130073059A1). - [Patents](/davidbingham/patents/) - **Shown in Europe** — October 2011 · Smart Homes Europe, Amsterdam — GE took the display to Smart Homes Europe in Amsterdam, and it was still part of the line in March 2012. - [GE release, October 2011](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ge-shows-energy-management-critical-smart-home-future) - [GE release, March 2012](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ge-unveils-more-brillion™-ideas-consumer-energy-savings) ## Nucleus Block `home-energy/nucleus` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#nucleus The Nucleus press image: a small white box plugged into a wall socket with three green lights. This is the second generation in one photograph, the computer taken off the wall screen and put on the outlet, with the interfaces moved to devices people already owned. - Image: A small white GE Nucleus plugged into a wall outlet on a beige wall, three green status bars glowing on its top edge and a black cable leaving the bottom. - Image: System diagram: the utility feeds a smart meter, which links in green to the Nucleus, appliances and energy display, while a router links in blue to the cloud, mobile and computer apps. The Nucleus is a tiny computer that aggregates home energy information from attached devices, then provides insights to that data through network connected applications. This form allowed the team to optimize the hardware necessary to collect usage data and focus interface design efforts on web and mobile platforms. The software evolved through both qualitative and quantitative research with users at home, online, and in our lab. ## Water heater film Block `home-energy/water-heater-film` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#water-heater-film A concept film for connected services, made in just over a week: storyboard, script, voiceover, shoot and wireframes. I used it inside GE to show what a water heater that could talk to the Nucleus would mean; the poster frame is a GeoSpring heater being fitted in the studio. - Image: A red GE GeoSpring water heater with its top panel open, a hand holding two white hoses above it, in a white studio. — Internal concept communication: Storyboard, script, voiceover recording, video shoot, and overall production in just over 1 week. /media/home-energy/video/water-heater.mp4 5:12 Mark's water heater is reaching the end of its life. He wants to get a new one that will save him money on his energy bill while meeting his household demands. Mark thinks GE's GeoSpring Hybrid Electric Water Heater is a perfect fit. With a bit of online browsing, he finds connectivity possibilities through the GE Nucleus, particularly the ability to set an energy saving vacation mode and receive service notifications to keep it operating smoothly. On the day of installation, the service technician connects the GeoSpring to plumbing and electrical wiring. Mark is provided with the new Nucleus and instructions on registering and connecting both products. Mark unpacks the Nucleus, plugs it into a power source, and connects it to his home router. The lights turn on and flash to let him know the device is operating, but not connected to his appliances. He pulls out his iPad and visits geid.com. The initial screen greets him with the option of logging in or creating a new account. This is Mark's first time to the service, so he creates an account using his email address and password. The site welcomes him to GEiD, and prompts him to start by adding his GE products. Pressing the Add button, Mark enters the Nucleus model and serial number off the registration card, including his address and install date before pressing “Send Registration”. After a moment, the interface confirms that his Nucleus is now ready to be used with his account. The lights on his Nucleus change from flashing to a steady glow. Mark's GEiD has its first product registered. While he's reviewing the Nucleus product page, he's able to adjust configuration, access the user manual, and post questions to the community. At the bottom of the screen, new messages arrive in the product Timeline. The first is a notification confirming a successful setup with the date and time marking the start of his product warranty. The second Timeline event is his auto-subscription to the Nucleus community. Mark taps on this event, and it tells him that when new Nucleus discussions occur, he will see them show up in his Timeline. If the topic interests him, he can choose to follow the discussion and receive all the community responses. To set up the GeoSpring, Mark once again presses the Add button. On the registration screen, Mark notices he can scan the product's QR code, saving him time from manually typing in the model and serial numbers. Finding the GeoSpring rating plate, he holds up his iPad and scans the QR code. The code is translated and displayed with his previously entered address. Mark confirms the install date and presses “Send Registration”. After a moment, registration is confirmed. The interface asks if he would like to connect the GeoSpring to the Nucleus associated with his GEiD. The unit requires an appliance radio module, which is included with the Nucleus and GeoSpring bundle. He presses the “Bind to Nucleus” button and views the instructions particular to his appliance. He starts by connecting the GeoSpring and radio module with the included cable. The light on the radio module flashes to let him know it's powered, but not yet communicating with the Nucleus. Mark scans the QR code on the back of the radio module and presses the bind button. The light now pulses while searching for the Nucleus. The interface confirms that the GeoSpring has connected with the Nucleus. The lights on his radio module change from pulsing to a steady glow. Completing the GeoSpring setup, Mark reviews the notification options and adds his mobile number to receive SMS alerts. He's pleased by the simple configuration and thoroughness of the appliance alerts. The GeoSpring appliance interface is similar to the Nucleus interface Mark saw earlier, but has controls and information particular to the appliance. Mark can set the water temperature, change to vacation mode, and see appliance energy use. Similar to the other appliance page, he can view the user manual, check warranty info, schedule service, and post questions to the community. The GeoSpring’s Timeline has three new items including the install date, a test appliance alert, and a reminder that he is now subscribed to the GeoSpring community. Navigating back to the GEiD homepage, Mark sees a master vacation mode control and information on his overall home energy use for the products he has connected to his Nucleus. He notices he can easily contact GE for service and navigate to specific appliances. The Timeline on his homepage collects all the events from his appliances in chronological order, and Mark can scroll through them, filter by categories, and search for specific terms. Mark feels in control without being overwhelmed. He doesn't have to hunt the web for information on his particular water heater, and adding additional products in the future is a snap. ## Principles Block `home-energy/principles` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#principles The seven principles from the guidelines, each with the first line of its definition. They are the rules the widgets were built to, from customisable layouts to vector graphics that scale, and they are what let one system serve three screen sizes. - **Customizable** — The interface allows user preference in widget layout and facilitates new devices on the network. - **Flexibility** — The small, medium, and large application widgets allow designs appropriate to the amount of information and interactivity. - **Perceptual Grouping** — Using the gestalt concepts of proximity, similarity, continuation, closure, and symmetry, a particular interface should aim for less than 6 visual groups. - **Scalability** — Interface graphics are vector-based and/or code-generated. - **Direct Manipulation** — The interactivity relies on use of direct manipulation over other control styles. - **Consistency** — Similar display methods are kept common across devices while respecting the platform’s technical affordances and user context. - **Progressive Disclosure** — The commissioning process gently steps the user through adding products to their Nucleus system. ## Add new Block `home-energy/add-new` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#add-new A short capture of adding a device to the Nucleus desktop. A new widget appears in the tray, and the small, medium and large sizes let it take the space its information needs; the transcript is my deck text for the sequence. - Image: The Nucleus desktop with Current, History, Appliances and Thermostat widgets on a green and blue ground, and a tray of eight widget icons along the bottom. /media/home-energy/video/add-new.mp4 0:16 When a new device is connected, its software widget is made available on both mobile and desktop interfaces. To match appropriate information with user-context, the team explored device sizes and layout options until arriving on a small/medium/large modular structure. Some widgets are expandable through multiple sizes and all can be rearranged as the user desires. ## Layouts Block `home-energy/layouts` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#layouts Six Nucleus desktop layouts in order, with the thermostat on the iPhone app beside them: the screen starts with one widget for the one product a home has, and fills out as products are added, up to resources, rate, appliances, thermostat and history together. - Image: An iPhone showing the Nucleus Thermostat screen: 68 degrees in the living room, a setpoint of 70 with plus and minus, Heat and Auto buttons, and Set Vacation. - Image: The Nucleus desktop with one widget on the green ground: Appliances, showing a washer at 2300 kWh month to date. - Image: The desktop with one widget: Thermostat, 68 degrees in the living room, with a schedule of morning, day, evening and night setpoints. - Image: The desktop with Thermostat and Appliances widgets side by side. - Image: The desktop with Resources at 0.00 kW, Rate at $0.13/kWh, an Equivalents widget reading 130 seconds of GE wind, and a monthly History chart. - Image: The desktop with Resources, a monthly History chart, Rate with its schedule, and an Appliances widget. - Image: The desktop at three columns: Resources, Rate, an Appliances pie chart, Thermostat and History. ## History widget Block `home-energy/history-widget` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#history-widget A capture of the History widget on the Nucleus desktop, scrubbing through a day of readings. The vector graphics, the transitions and the feedback during data calls were worked out here before they went into the design system. - Image: The Nucleus History widget: a scatter of green dots for a day's kilowatt readings on 12 June 2011, with a daily total of 24.71 kWh and a Compare button. /media/home-energy/video/history.mp4 0:46 The interface is developed in all vector graphics allowing crisp rendering at multiple screen sizes. Great attention was paid to transitions between screens and providing rich user feedback during API calls to the Nucleus device and the cloud. These details were tested in certain areas before being rolled into the greater design system definition and used broadly across the application. ## Nucleus testing Block `home-energy/nucleus-testing` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#nucleus-testing The research behind the Nucleus: usability testing of the software and iPhone app, in-home and online research on its concepts, interviews with local families, pilot participants' feedback, and thermostat concepts tested with consumers. Testing and feedback initiatives over 12 months - Researcher - What was tested - **Usability Sciences** — Tested iPhone app and Nucleus software. - **IA Collaborative** — Configuration concept tested with users. Concepts presented to users during in-home research. - **User Insight** — Tested functioning Nucleus software. - **Stevenson** — Tested Nucleus and Nucleus 3 interface concepts with consumers in an online survey. - **GE focus groups** — One-on-one interviews with local families on Nucleus 3 interface concepts. - **Lextant** — Feedback from pilot participants on software interface and appliance. - **Ziba** — Tested thermostat concepts and identified interface requirements. ## Game brief Block `home-energy/game-brief` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#game-brief Natron Baxter's Openwork platform: two games, a mobile app and challenges around the Nucleus. I wrote the brief that started it, to make energy something a family would play with before and after they bought the product. - Image: Slide titled Openwork platform: an orange circle holding the Nucleus at its center, ringed by Quantum Reach, Flow, Challenges, Mobile App, Optimize Product, Product Install and Social. Most people never think about their electricity until the bill arrives. I wrote a brief for a social game that would start a family on an educational journey toward the Nucleus, then reward the habits that keep savings going once it was installed. Natron Baxter Applied Gaming designed two games and a platform, Openwork, around the device. ## Games Block `home-energy/games` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#games Two games Natron Baxter built for GE in 2011: Quantum Reach, an exploration game for nine to thirteen year olds, and Flow, a puzzle game for casual players on Facebook. Both ran on the idea that a household's real energy use could drive the game. - Image: Quantum Reach game screen: an isometric cutaway house in green and white, an energy meter reading 75 of 125, and a mission panel from a masked character. - Image: Flow game screen: a pale isometric grid with orange, green and blue energy streams and striped spheres, a score of 75 and 5800 at level 4. *Quantum Reach, an exploration game for 9 to 13 year olds, and Flow, a puzzle game for Facebook.* ## Game flow Block `home-energy/game-flow` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#game-flow Two pages of the Flow prototype specification: the household appliances disguised as game pieces, each with its real wattage, and the puzzle board where players route a limited supply of energy past them. - Image: Specification page of fourteen Flow game pieces, each an abstract shape standing for an appliance, from central air conditioner at 5,000 watts to cell phone charger at 4, with point values and the turns each makes in the flow. - Image: Flow game interface specification: an isometric grid with an energy flow from an IN cell past an obstacle, a 1:35 clock, a score of 5800 at level 4, 75 of 1000 energy used, and thirteen numbered callouts. *Every artifact is an appliance in disguise; players learn relative consumption by solving puzzles.* ## Game playtest Block `home-energy/game-playtest` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#game-playtest The playtest of Quantum Reach: about twenty children in Louisville, and the four kinds of player Natron Baxter saw in them. - Image: Chart of player types from the playtest: learners, puzzlers, socializers and explorers in four quadrants with orange dots for players, and Designers across the middle. About twenty children aged nine to thirteen played Quantum Reach over two days in Louisville. They split into puzzlers, socializers, explorers and designers, played in pairs without being asked, and wanted the game to answer the real world: weather, time of day, their own outposts. “It was tricky, and that’s good,” one nine-year-old said. Parents who saw the Flow trailer liked its social side and asked for it on the iPad. ## Game future Block `home-energy/game-future` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#game-future Three slides from Natron Baxter's future-state deck: how the games lead a family to the Nucleus, the install that imports their game profiles, and a parent running weekly challenges on a tablet. - Image: Slide titled How do they push education + sales?: a family leading to a purchase, and Quantum Reach and Flow leading to the Nucleus, with notes on the HEM-happy lifestyle and on engagement and refinement. - Image: Slide of a laptop showing Nucleus installation, its Import Data step connecting Facebook and importing Flow and Quantum Reach profiles for points, beside a Nucleus in a wall outlet. - Image: Slide titled (Another) Game Master: a tablet showing Nucleus Openwork with a goal to reduce by 500 kWh in 7 days against a neighbor, and a note that the family's next bill came in 20 percent lower. *The games as a path to purchase: install imports the family’s game profiles, and the house becomes the game controller.* ## Ces Block `home-energy/ces` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#ces GE's stand at CES in January 2011, South Hall 2, Connected Home Appliances. The Nucleus and the Brillion appliances were the centrepiece of GE's first return to the show in thirty years, and this is where the results section starts. - Image: GE's stand at CES 2011: a white canopy reading imagination at work and ecomagination over red-lit walls, a row of green-screened displays and visitors on the floor. ## Nucleus results Block `home-energy/nucleus-results` · https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/work/home-energy/#nucleus-results What became of the Nucleus, as a record: its launch, a business built around it, the first ZigBee-certified energy gateway, CES, utility pilots and their results, and the patents on the screenless gateway. - **Launch** — July 2010 · San Francisco — The first Brillion product: three years of usage data on the PC and phone, priced at $149 to $199. - [GE release](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ge-unveils-nucleus-™-future-home-energy-management) - [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2010/07/13/ge-introduces-their-own-home-energy-management-system) - **A business of its own** — November 2010 · GE Appliances — GE formed a Home Energy Management business with the Nucleus at its center. - [GE release](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ge-appliances-creates-home-energy-management-business) - **First ZigBee-certified energy gateway** — December 2010 · ZigBee Alliance — The first ZigBee-certified home energy gateway, linking meter, appliances and thermostat to computers and phones. - [GE release](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ges-nucleus%E2%84%A2-energy-manager-first-energy-gateway-be-zigbee%C2%AE-certified) - **At CES** — January 2011 · Las Vegas — MIT Technology Review: “plugged into a spare power socket,” it talks to the meter, appliances and an electric car. - [MIT Technology Review](https://www.technologyreview.com/s/422316/ces-smart-grid-smarter-home/) - **Utility pilots** — 2011 – 2012 · Massachusetts and Georgia — Martha’s Vineyard, 50 homes, about 120 appliances. Flint Energies, Georgia, 10 homes with peak-time rebates. - [GE release, Martha’s Vineyard](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ge-smart-grid-technologies-help-one-island-achieve-greater-energy-independence) - [GE release, Flint Energies](https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/flint-energies-and-ge-help-consumers-save-energy-using-new-smart-technologies) - **Pilot results** — 2011 · GE utility pilots — Rated best overall against four competitors. Smart appliances nearly doubled peak reduction, from 1.0 to 1.8 kW per home. - [GE deck](https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/12/f6/brillion_technology.pdf) - **Seven granted patents** — Filed 2010 – 2011 · US and Canadian patents — Six on the screenless Home Energy Gateway, the Nucleus’s working name, and one on pairing appliances to it. - [Patents](/davidbingham/patents/) - **AI:** 2, Ideas. AI helped with research, sources, brainstorming or structure. I wrote every word. The tiers: https://studiobing.com/davidbingham/writing/#ai