Solbridge Solar Monitoring Dashboard

Over the course of the semester, we worked closely with Solbridge Energy Advisors, a local Pittsburgh/Western Pennsylvania-based solar broker that makes installing solar easy by streamlining the exploration and bidding processes for their customers interested in installing solar at their residence or business. Our goal through this project was to create a solution that engages more people with solar and it’s feasibility in Western PA, specifically through the use of a dashboard. Through user research and using the Double Diamond design process, we discovered that our best approach to solve this problem was a two-pronged approach, one that engages current solar owners with their investment and one that engages non-solar owners and the general public, with both approaches integrated on a responsive web display.

Through our solution, we aim to create a cycle of discourse and engagement with solar that can use current & future advocates to attract more people interested in solar. In turn, we hope that our solution can create more interest in solar in Western PA, allow solar owners to validate their investment, generate more business for Solbridge EA, and dampen general public confusion on solar energy feasibility.

The Methods

Our goal for our research was to better understand what makes non-solar owners and solar owners more engaged and interested in solar energy.

Below is a summary of our most important methods, but is not comprehensive of all the research and methods we did. For more detail into our research process (starting page 6): Final Report

General Interview

We conducted 5 interviews (3 solar owners, 2 non-solar owners) in order to collect information on the interviewees’ process, thoughts, and motivations regarding solar energy.

Customer Journey Map

After interviewing solar owners, we displayed the customer’s journey from having the idea of installing solar panels to maintaining solar panels. This helped us identify the gaps we needed to address for our project.

Affinity Diagramming

Based on the information and insights from our general interviews, we synthesized insights regarding three major needs:

1. The need to know that an environmental impact is being made
2. The need to educate others on solar
3. The need to know how solar can work for me

Storyboarding and Interviews

Using the three needs we uncovered using the affinity diagram, we created 10 storyboards with varying degrees of riskiness that would explore the potential opportunities these needs could create. Afterward, we conducted five speed dating interviews (3 solar owners, 2 non-solar owners). Speed dating is a type of interview method in which the interviewer will rapidly present a series of storyboards depicting a diversity of different ideas. The participant will then give their first impressions and general thoughts regarding each idea. We conducted these interviews in order to gather feedback on our storyboards (i.e. which storyboard was the participant’s most and least favorite) as well as help us narrow down our scope for ideating.

After receiving feedback from our participants, we iterated upon and categorized our storyboards based on their popularity and intended user audience (ie. solar vs. non solar owners). Based on these results, we found that the most popular idea amongst solar owners and non solar owners was an online solar estimate. Understandably, the alternate popular idea for solar owners was an online solar monitoring tool, whereas for non solar owners, they were drawn to a website that could visualize one’s carbon footprint if one installed solar.

Think-aloud Protocol

We recruited two solar owners whom we previously interviewed and one non-solar owner. We conducted think-aloud protocols with our low-fidelity prototypes on our participants in order to get feedback on our initial ideas and validate assumptions without getting distracted by aesthetics.

The Major Insights

We categorized our insights into three categories:

1. General Public: Any individual residing in Pittsburgh, regardless of solar or home ownership. They are generally unfamiliar with solar energy and can have varying stances on solar and environmentally friendly practices.
2. Solar Owners: Any individual that owns or works with solar-structures (ie Homeowner, business owner that has solar installed)
3. Non-Solar Owners: Any Pittsburgh homeowner that does not have solar and has no immediate plans to install solar

General Public Insights

"Yeah, I would consider myself an environmentally conscious person for what I am aware that I can do. There might be a lot of techniques that I am not aware of, and because of that I don’t do them." – Pittsburgh Homeowner

Our main goal for these interviews was to understand how we could potentially use our solution with Solbridge to help educate these people on solar and motivate them to act in environmentally friendly ways. We have two main insights regarding the general public:

1. The average person cares about the environment, but lacks the knowledge of what they can do about it.
2. They are unsure of how environmentally responsible they are currently, and need an extra push to turn a positive opinion about the environment into action.

Based on our conversations with Pittsburgh homeowners and residents as well as our secondary research on factors that inspire people to make behavioral changes, we realized that besides illustrating the financial benefits, showing how solar works personally for the customer is an ideal method for convincing someone to go solar because it gives people a sense of empowerment in their capabilities to make a difference.

Solar Owner Insights

"I told two of my friends about solar, and referred them to a website. They’re interested in the panels up on my roof." – Pittsburgh Solar Owner

Our main focus for these interviews was on learning about solar owners’ current impressions on solar energy and needs with solar panels. From our interviews with six different solar-owners, we found two insights that are unique to solar owners:

1. They want to spread the word about solar panels – especially its financial and environmental benefits
2. They want control over their solar panels – ensuring their panels are functioning properly and that they are saving energy and money

Non-Solar Owner Insights

"We definitely hear about solar more now, but without a larger effort (i.e. marketing, education), it is still hard to get everyone onboard." - Solar Non-Owner

Going into the interviews with non-solar owners, we wanted to focus on learning about what is stopping them from converting to solar, as well as their current understanding of solar energy in general. From our interviews with the four different non-solar owners, we found three useful insights that can help us down the road:

1. They are typically conflicted about solar energy because of the perceived lack of effectiveness (especially in the Pittsburgh area)
2. There is a lack of channels to access information on solar energy
3. Most non-solar owners would love to learn more about the financial aspects of solar

Narrowing Our Scope

After analyzing all of our insights from the research and interviews we conducted, we narrowed our scope to a solution that would enable the general public and interested non-solar owners to better understand solar, as well as further empower current solar-owners and provide a sense of justification for their investment. This digital dashboard would be an interactive product that can be used in a physical domain but can also be accessed on a mobile and desktop platform. The following became our revised project goals:

1. Create an interactive product for non-solar owners that are interested in solar
2. Provide an avenue for solar owners to direct to for interested friends and family

Lo-Fi Prototyping

Our final low-fi iteration marries the need to appeal to non solar owners by addressing their misconceptions about solar in Pittsburgh, with a data-driven dashboard for solar owners to continually monitor their energy usage. Users can browse the scrollable home page of the website, which contains an interactive map, a section that addresses common solar misconceptions in Pittsburgh, and an interactive flow chart diagram that allows users to make an initial determination if solar is a viable option for them. Solar owners can log in to the website in order to view a dashboard that visualizes their energy usage both in terms of kwH (the traditional energy metric) and in terms of money, as well as providing information about environmental impact.

Based on our think-aloud interviews with non solar and solar owners, in addition to feedback from Solbridge, we found these main insights regarding our current solution:

1. Data should be presented more hierarchically to emphasize solar impact
2. More personable statistics can help relate to a more non-technical audience

Mid-Fi Prototyping

Homepage Iterations

In our first mid-fi iteration of the website homepage, we realized that our initial interactive map idea would be complicated to visualize and implement depending on the scope of the map. For example, the data we would need to populate the map would be a potentially intricate issue depending on where we sourced it from and what type of data we used. Furthermore, Solbridge requested that the map be more flexible in the case that they expanded beyond just the Western PA region, as we had initially designed the map to be focused on Pittsburgh/Western PA.

Thus, we then created an alternative, much simpler homepage option without the interactive map feature. This design has real time data regarding the number of solar owners in Western PA as well as their respective environmental impact. The numbers would ideally roll in as the user opened the website using a number incrementing rolling animation. We ended up going with this alternate option because it’s easier to maintain for Solbridge in the future, as well as more flexible in the eventual possibility that Solbridge expands their business beyond Western PA.

"Is Solar Right for You?" Quiz Iterations

In the mid-fi iteration of the “Is Solar Right for You?” quiz, we decided to go with a traditional quiz format instead of a flow chart because we wanted the users to stay engaged in the feature from beginning to end, instead of potentially exiting out of the quiz early if it was in a flowchart format.

With the new quiz format, we worked to further progress the UI layout, as well as begin to add questions that would answer the “business-end” questions our clients wanted, as well as reassess what the call to action at the end should entail. One main design goal we had was to create a more rewarding experience for the user upon completion of the questions. Thus, we added a score at the end of the quiz that shows how much of a fit the person is for solar energy.

Dashboard Iterations

For our mid-fi dashboard iterations, we included these additional features based on our user testings:

1. Facts that relate to the user, to help them feel more connected to their solar panels
2. The production efficiency of the solar panels to show how well the system is performing
3. The ability to view a 3D model of solar panels with the sun’s position through the day

While hammering these components down, our goal was to use progressive disclosure and hierarchy to make the information displayed less overwhelming, as this was an important piece of feedback we received. To establish hierarchy, we decided to implement a static side panel that controls what is being displayed on the dashboard. This helps spread out the information into digestible components. All the important elements that would be relevant to the general public are displayed on the homepage. This includes energy production, the daily report, and changes in values for other categories. Based on our storyboards, we know that this information presented is most helpful for both solar and non-solar users. The dashboard homepage can also be displayed publicly if the user wants to share their solar panel outcomes with others, and users who have access to the dashboard can navigate through other pages to view more information such as analytics, notification, and panels.

The Final Prototype

Our final homepage prototype contains the following features:

1. Main page with static text, actual numbers and graphics
2. Quiz to assess user’s fit in adopting solar that contains a moving “suitability” meter based on the user’s inputs
3. Q&A section with commonly asked questions regarding solar usage and misconceptions
4. Login button that allows the user to access the solar dashboard

From our mid-fi prototypes, we iterated upon our website homepage by focusing primarily on creating a cohesive aesthetic and color scheme across all of our prototype screens. In particular, we switched the location of the quiz and the mythbusters sections because we felt like the quiz would be overlooked at the bottom of the page. Furthermore, we replaced the matching score with a “suitability” meter on our quiz because we felt that it would most accurately portray solar’s fit for a user without overpromising or establishing any unrealistic expectations.

Our iterations during our hi-fi prototyping stage for the dashboard was focused primarily on aesthetics and color scheme design. The features within the prototype remained largely the same, with small changes made to take into consideration some of the technical feasibility and implementation challenges we encountered along the way. For example, instead of displaying the consumer’s average along the 4 metrics (production, money saved, emissions, efficiency), we choose to display an expected total along the same metrics. This is because we realized that giving users the comparison to their fellow users may be misleading and potentially discouraging, as production varies greatly on many factors that solar owners may not be able to control.

Technical Implementation

This figure captures the essence of our approach during the mid-fi and hi-fi prototyping phases – iterative design and feedback loop alongside technical research on feasibility and implementations. We were able to receive weekly design feedback from both our advisor and Solbridge, which gave us two mini-sprints each week to refine the design over and over. Our team also worked on the implementation of the prototype while making adjustments to the design, which helps us bind our visions with technical feasibility.

MVP

After conducting technical feasibility research and gaining a better understanding of what solar databases already existed and what kinds of data was needed to pull data from, we created our MVP (minimum viable product) based on our design prototype using the iterative design/implementation approach outlined above. Our MVP focused solely on the following aspects of our prototype:

1. Homepage
2. Main Dashboard Tab
3. Analytics Dashboard Tab

For more insight into what technical challenges we ran into and what tools were used in the process of creating the MVP (starting page 30): Final Report

Reflection

Overall, the experience of working with Solbridge EA to create this dashboard and website for my Senior Capstone was an incredibly fulfilling experience. I worked with an amazing team of fellow Carnegie Mellon seniors, who had a diverse set of backgrounds – from technical/coding experience, to UX/UI design, research, and project management. I would also like to shout out our advisor, Professor Karen Kornblum, for helping guide us throughout this entire process. In many of my past projects, we never had the chance to see a project through from initial brainstorming to technical implementation – so it was extremely rewarding for our team to be able to utilize all of our skills, knowledge, and experience we had amassed in our four years in this project. In reflecting upon our entire design and implementation process, we found 3 main takeaways:

1. It’s important to be able to blend our ideal version of our dashboard with what we are able to afford from a technical, business, and user-centered perspective.
2. Our biggest struggle was balancing what information would be valuable for solar owners to see vs. what information would be more attractive for the general public to see, and tackling this struggle took many rounds of feedback, long discussions, and iterations.
3. The core of much of our design process was figuring out how to break down complicated information that allows even all owners to understand their system at a glance.

For a fully detailed report about our entire process: Final Report