Visualizing industrial energy use : Inviting shop floor employees to the conversation

Abstract: Researchers and industrial actors alike have identified employees as a potential resource ineffective energy management. Access to visualized progress of energy efficiency is said tobe required for this to be successful, yet few have identified if there are differences in therequirements based on the industrial roles. This survey-based study has aimed to begin thisconversation by comparing shop floor employees and managers in terms of perceivedimportance of energy efficiency and underlying motivation to behave energy efficiently.Additionally, a small randomized set of visualizations containing energy related informationwas presented in order to identify if some information had a higher impact on perceivedenergy use, associated costs, environmental impact and prioritization of energy efficiency.Although no statistically significant differences related to the type of information displayedwere found, the results indicate that both managers and shop floor employees place highimportance on energy efficiency in the workplace and have similar motivations to act energyefficiently. On average, both shop floor employees and managers believe a 26% increase inenergy efficiency is possible to achieve in their industry.