The document describes an interactive installation project aimed at creating awareness about energy efficiency and conservation. The project involved designing interactive exhibits that could work as standalone pieces or as part of a larger exhibition. Four student groups designed concepts including an interactive wall puzzle, a light-controlling water tap, a rotating house model to showcase daylight hours, and a dancing puppet to illustrate standby power usage. The installations aimed to convey energy conservation messages in an engaging and playful manner.

1. Interaction Communication Project:
Energy Conservation & Interaction Design
An interactive installation to create awareness on energy efficiency and conservation
Department of Design (DoD), Indian Institute of Technology - Guwahati (IITG)

2. Context Objective
With the growth of economy, the demand for energy has grown The main objective of the project is to design an interactive
substantially. Further, the high level of energy intensity in some installation to create awareness on energy efficiency and
of the sectors is a matter of concern. India is presently the conservation that can work as a standalone communicative
sixth-greatest electricity generating country and accounts for element as well as an integrated part of a larger exhibition.
about 4% of the world's total annual electricity generation.
India is also currently ranked sixth in annual electricity The projects will be focused on showcasing different ways
consumption, accounting for about 3.5% of the world's total of energy conservation, use of energy efficient appliances etc.
annual electricity consumption. in an interactive way. The showcased information should be in the
context of energy usage at home. As the installation will have to
In such a scenario efficient use of energy resources and their reach the widest possible group of people overcoming several
conservation assume tremendous significance and are essential barriers, interaction modalities will have to be chosen carefully
for curtailment of wasteful consumption and sustainable and needs to be an engaging & playful interaction. The installation
development. should not only be engaging for visitors, but also should showcase
the information relevant to the home context.
There are significant amount of effort happening by Ministry of
Power, Government of India including several activities & events Also, the installation should be designed in such a way that it can
like Bachat Lamp Yojana, National educational and awareness be carried to different place and can be a part of a larger exhibition
programs, state level painting competitions in schools, later on.
conferences, training programs and many more.
Keywords
In addition to these efforts, there is an essential need of Energy conservation
developing a system that can reach to larger audience Interactive installation
overcoming the barrier such as illiteracy, age group, distance Awareness
etc. and can reach to any village/town/city of India. Engaging & Playful
Standalone
Prototyping
Tangible interfaces

3. Projects
Each project described here is an outcome of a nearly
4 week long design exercise on understanding the
context of energy conservation, interactive installations,
prototyping (with arduino, fiducial, flash, hacking toys)
as well as exercises such as team building.
The ideas showcased here are generated during
“Interactive Communication Project” led by
Asst. Prof. Keyur Sorathia, Dept. of Design, IIT Guwahati.
A special thanks to all the students, supporting staff
and very special thanks to people who make open
source prototyping tools.

4. I-WILL revolves around a space that engages the user in completing the
puzzle which results in the completion of a relevant message about
energy conservation. The installation uses a combination of fixed words
that are imprinted on a big white wall and the projection of the dynamic
phrases which together gives rise to resolutions.
In a way installation made the user promise that he would act wisely with
energy henceforth. It also gives user a token of appreciation in the form of a
printed poster having his own image forming the “I” instead of silhoutte
of the message.
by Harshal Verma, Jasmeet Sethi, Rohit Sharma, Shamik Ray

6. “Flowing Light” shows a subtle connection between saving energy and
saving water. It attempts to communicate softly the message of
conserving power. The tap in the concept plays a very important role as it
connects with the behavioral aspect of the user.
The degree of closing the tap from leaking controls the amount of light
leaking out of the container. This is visually depicted on the facade of the
container using panels of LEDs behind a translucent glass.
by Aditya Bandi, Shobhan Shah & Jagriti kumar

8. The designed concept is an interactive installation encouraging usage of
day light source in home context. It attempts to spread the message by
constructing a sun metaphor (to represent day light source) and a scaled
down house metaphor with a normal home lighting. A rotating mechanism,
representing hours of a day, advices day light source usage during particular
hours of the day. By rotating the mechanism on day hours (such as morning
7am to 5pm), it gradually switches off the home light and lets the sun light
enter the house, which conveys a message of using renewable sources during
day time.
by Vinaykumar, Rishabh Gupta, Pushpinder Hooda & Himanshu Borah

9. “Dancing Puppet” is conceptualized on the theme of standby power. We
waste a lot of energy by not switching off the tv, VCR, shutting down the PC
etc. Puppet of dancing dog is used as a metaphor of electrical appliances.
Pressing “ON” makes the dog dance in full motion, while pressing “OFF”
stops the dog dancing. But, while pressing “standby”, dog still dances in a
lazy motion representing electricity consumption.
Dancing puppet conveys a message of standby power in fun and playful way.
by Anuraj Dadhich, Ankita Gautam, Jitendra Mehra & Sandeep Supal

12. Department of Design (DoD),
Indian Institute of Technology - Guwahati (IITG)
Guwahati - 781039
T: +91-361-2582500
Fax: +91-361-2690 762
E: keyur@iitg.ernet.in