Research Outputs
A User Perspective on current Drivers and Barriers for Electric Vehicle Usage in Austria
The global electric vehicle market is rapidly growing, which is an important step, as electro-mobility is an essential driver for achieving climate targets. However, acceptance of electric vehicles is still lacking among potential users. To overcome their skepticism, it is necessary to understand the decisive factors for the consumers’ decision-making process. Therefore, this work investigates essential drivers and barriers to electric vehicle adoption derived from international literature. Electric vehicle users from the electro-mobility-club Austria were interviewed by means of an online survey. Importance-performance analysis was conducted to analyze the data. Interpretations are supported by means of receiver operating characteristic analysis. The results show that the environmental performance of electric vehicles is a key motivator for participants and that this is already perceived as satisfying. Major barriers governments and manufactures should address are acquisition cost, range and time consumption associated with the usage of electric vehicles.
An interdisciplinary approach of a local peer-to-peer energy trading model for a more sustainable power grid
This work investigates a novel distance-based electricity tariff applicable to energy communities. Based on a mixed integer linear optimization model computational studies are conducted to investigate the effects of this tariff on a small-scale community consisting of 22 consumers and 5 prosumers. Additionally, the potential of electric storage systems supporting the use of locally produced energy is investigated. The results of the computational model prove that an energy community generates incentives photovoltaic plants and the installation of energy storage systems. Complementary to the simulations, the flexibility options are supported by a user survey focusing on technology attributes for local energy market models, proving that there is a significant awareness for the use of energy storage systems.
A Comprehensive Study on the Aesthetics of Electricity Consumption Graphs on Appliance Level and their Triggering Potential on Human Emotions
Sustainable energy consumption behavior in households is a decisive factor in contributing to climate protection. To provide residents comprehensible insights into their household’s energy consumption data, nonintrusive load monitoring on appliance level can assist. To give consumers a simple and comprehensible overview of their consumption data, which they also find aesthetically pleasing, in this work a two-stage experimental design is used to compare the perceived aesthetic appearance of different types of electricity consumption graphs on appliance level (aggregated or time-dependent) and their triggered emotion. First, a representative survey covers the general aesthetics assessment in a 2x3 mixed factorial design. Second, an in-depth eye-tracking and facial expression investigation is used to track and quantify emotions on different electricity consumption graphs on application level and their perceived advantages and disadvantages. The main results provide comprehensive insights into the aesthetics of electricity consumption visualizations to trigger positive emotions, in particular users’ preferences for simple and conventional graphs like bar charts.
Does electricity consumption make happy? The emotional dimensions of time-scaled electricity consumption graphs for household appliances
An Experimental Investigation on the Comprehension of Electricity Consumption, Generation and Grid Supply Visualization
Energy consumption at the household level has a significant environmental impact. However, it is often difficult for end users to understand this complex topic. Hence, end users need to sight and understand their own energy data by means of appropriate visualizations to achieve a sustainable change towards more efficient energy consumption behavior. By means of an experimental online survey, the comprehension of energy data visualizations with regard to the daily electricity consumption of a multi-person household was surveyed. A total of n = 538 respondents were asked about their comprehension at three levels of difficulty, considering the response duration. The results show that comprehension differs depending on the energy data visualization type and its information density. This work contributes to determine appropriate visualization types to unleash potential for more energy efficient end user behavior.
Preferences on Home Energy Management Systems - A Study of Potentials for the Use of End User Flexibilities
Due to the increase of volatile renewable energy resources, additional flexibility in the electricity system is necessary to ensure a technically and economically efficient network operation. To tap flexibilities like private storages, participatory developed and user-friendly technical solutions are essential. In this work, the acceptance and the market potential of a home energy management system with focus on i) grid optimization, ii) self-consumption optimization, and iii) additional functions for increased comfort is presented. This is determined by means of a representative survey. The main results show that the perceived usefulness and accessibility are the most important influence factors affecting the end user’s intention to use. Based on the given acceptance, the solution provides a market potential of one third of the users for an increased use of flexibilities in the investigated area.