New Work: GE

We all know that it’s best to turn off the lights or TV when one leaves a room. But what does this energy use actually mean in terms of dollars saved, or sitcoms unwatched? For GE, Lisa Strausfeld and her team have designed a new visualization that calculates energy use of home appliances in terms that are easily understood. The calculator tracks the energy consumption of 53 electrically-powered devices found in homes, from large appliances like a furnace, refrigerator and air conditioner; to electronics like a laptop, DVR and TV; to personal care items like a curling iron, hair dryer; to kitchen appliances like a blender, microwave and popcorn popper. The visualization allows users to see the energy consumption for each appliance in terms of watts used and the equivalent cost in dollars. It also allows users to convert the energy to equivalent consumption in gallons of gasoline—a familiar unit of energy cost for consumers—and “appliance specific” units like loads of laundry and batches of cupcakes.

Timed to the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the calculator is the first visualization completed in a new collaboration between Pentagram and GE. Led by Camille Kubie, GE is driving an ambitious initiative to transform data about energy and health related issues into meaningful information for consumers. GE has been collaborating on visualizations with GOOD, Ben Fry, and information designer David McCandless. The visualizations are being introduced via GE’s Healthymagination and Ecomagination websites, where the energy use calculator was launched last week.

Over 20 percent of total energy consumption in the U.S. is residential, and the energy use calculator is designed to give consumers an easy, accessible way to comprehend their household energy needs. The various appliances are represented by a series of playfully illustrated icons that users can turn “on” or “off” to get approximate totals for their own profile. (The icons “glow” when they are on.) The devices can be sorted according to amount of energy consumed, and appliances available as Energy Star models are indicated with a blue star.

The unit converter presents the energy use of each appliance in terms of watts used, the cost in dollars, and the equivalent power consumption in gasoline. For instance, in a year, a central AC consumes the equivalent of almost 400 gallons of gas. The costs can be calculated per day, per month and per year, and adjusted for the user’s state—costs are higher in New York, for example.

The kilowatt hour is the billing unit used for electricity but is a relatively abstract measure for consumers. The visualization describes what one kilowatt hour yields for each device, a fun and easy way to understand the relative amount of energy required to run household appliances. For instance, 12 minutes of central air conditioning is the equivalent of doing three loads of laundry, baking one batch of cupcakes, doing 67 styles with a curling iron, transmitting 100 sitcom episodes by cable box, or making 400 margaritas in a blender.

The calculator also features detailed views of five large appliances—refrigerator, air conditioner, freezer, dishwasher and washing machine—with notes about replacing old models with more efficient Energy Star models. Additional helpful tips explain kilowatt hours, electricity costs by state, and CO2 emission conversions.

Project Team: Lisa Strausfeld, partner-in-charge and designer; Hilla Katki, data architect and designer; Michael Deal, icon illustrator and designer: Adam Suharja, developer and designer.