Meeting 2/22* Who are our three users? When will we interview them?** Each interview one user

• • “What-if” scenario, since we don’t have existing users
  • Look at assignment for questions to ask; go through the list
• User 1** 24-year-old college graduate
  • Most of his experience is with desktop computers rather than mobile devices
  • Shares apartment with roommate and splits bills; want to know how much he consumes vs. roommate
  • Idea: break energy consumption into time periods, or even hours; this would satisfy his needs
  • Not much domain knowledge of smart grid; never used a similar application
  • Uses electricity for heating, computer, washing machine; has a gas stove
  • Works as a software engineer; lots of technology experience
  • Tasks:*** How much each appliance consumes
    • Breakdown of energy usage by time
    • Profile per person
    • Price information; time range to help make decisions (shed)
    • Sell back, using the same kind of information (time periods)
    • Control appliances from outside of home
  • Probably use application weekly, at most, although he brings his phone with him
  • If he could control appliances from phone, he would use the application daily
  • What can go wrong?*** Security and privacy: who would be able to access information about which appliances are on? Could they extrapolate information, e.g. whether someone is at home?
    • Would we be able to give an accurate bill? Probably not: could give a rough estimate of savings, but the trend information would be useful
    • Could let users enter the actual data from their own bill or e-bill; track it in the application
• Research/background reading** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_meter
• List of tasks for the app** Monitor consumption
  • Buy and sell power
  • Notifications from power company; give option to turn off appliances
  • In future, real-time marketing information about prices; could give notifications to the user about how much reserve is available and the current pricing
  • At peak hours, may send information about price--configure notifications to be sent when over a certain number of kWh, to help decide when to schedule energy hogs
  • Should also be able to choose what time they receive the information
• To do: download SDK and look at tutorials. Limit scope of project at first, to allow time to learn to use SDK. Use Android 2.3.4
• May want to look at existing apps from utility companies (National Grid?) that allow users to view their usage
• Working project title: Smart Grid