The Power of Data Visualization: A Prototype Energy Performance Map for a University Campus

A key factor to promote energy efficiency across campus and buildings is through education and clarity of information. Energy data is complex to understand and difficult to comprehend for the majority of users. Higher education institutions consists of building groups that usually operate according to strategies pre-set by the operation teams that respond to a specific energy demand condition. The purpose of this research is to design a data friendly interface to simplify and assist in the implementation of energy literacy across campus. The research method utilized available energy metered and simulated data at the campus level provided by the university operations. A web based data visualization interface is developed and an energy map is created to inform the campus community on the status of energy consumption. In addition to visualization, the proposed interface helps operators to benchmark campus buildings, promote energy efficiency across campus and disseminate the resulting information in a simple, clear and concise way to the campus community. The interface is a great step towards change of behavior through education, a questionnaire to measure user actions and understanding is distributed to measure the effectiveness of this new approach and the results are compiled to advance the interface design and user experience.