A Serious Game Connecting the Smart Meters of Residential Users for Demand Side Management: Lessons Learned in the Preparation Stage

Increasing shares of intermittent renewable energy sources and targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction challenge the reliable and economic operation of energy systems. An effective energy transition requires urgent actions to empower consumers, enable demand-side flexibility, and promote new roles such as prosumers, aggregators, and energy communities. Currently, citizens' engagement in new energy services and products is hindered by energy market regulation and lack of information, two-way communication, and trust with utilities. We envision learning communities as vital in enabling citizens to participate in socio-technical imaginaries of user-centered, sustainable, and affordable energy systems. We will develop and demonstrate integrated tools for citizens' long-term engagement and empowerment in energy applications through research on persuasive and inclusive serious game design, coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, energy models, and smart meter data input, to provide informed and reliable feedback to citizens about optimal home energy management. While we are eager to complete the development and proceed with experimentation, the steps taken so far and the lessons learned during this preparatory stage are useful to document and share with practitioners and the academic community.