What is a statement that summarizes the “macro” version of your problem? What is a statement that summarizes the “micro” version of your problem? In both cases think of an “elevator pitch” version of your problem statements.

 

• A statement that summarizes the “macro” version of our problem is “people do not understand the effects and quantity of their energy usage.” By focusing on this statement, we are focusing on our long term goal of inspiring interest in reducing energy usage. We will ensure our Water and Energy Dashboard has features that allow users to see how much energy they are using, as well as the resources for them to understand and take action on it. The “micro” version of our problem is “there is no resource for Lehigh students and the sustainability and campus operations committees to view data on energy usage.” This focuses on our goal of a tangible product and features of a webpage that will allow individuals and committees to view the energy data.  

Based on your life experience, skills and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like?

 

• Based on our life experiences of being CSB majors, we will use the AGILE design process in developing our webpage. The agile design process focuses first on general idea generation, then more detailed ideas, implementation, constant testing, and revisions as the process goes along, as well as check-in meetings. The whole goal of AGILE is for a straightforward, efficient, and ever-changing process to meet the end product. 

You have begun to talk to stakeholders for your project, and will continue to do so going forward. For these conversations, list 10 hypotheses for your project that you will need to validate, and 10 assumptions your project is making, and the basis for those assumptions.

 

• Hypotheses:

• The dashboard will encourage students to use less energy
• The dashboard can be help lehigh be more sustainable
• Lehigh organizations, such as the sustainability office, could use the dashboard to access energy information more easily
• Money will be saved because Lehigh could easily see where energy is being wasted
• Students will use the dashboard if there are incentives
• The dashboard will teach students the importance of saving energy
• Making the dashboard user friendly and accessible will increase the use of the dashboard
• The dashboard could be used to identify leaks and energy failures
• The dashboard will allow the lehigh community to monitor lehigh’s energy consumption in real time 
• The dashboard could spread awareness for lehigh’s sustainability efforts

• Assumptions:

• People will care about sustainability

• • People would only be interested in our project if they care about reducing the energy consumption at Lehigh

 

• Lehigh organizations will use the dashboard

• • We expect organizations, such as the sustainability office and eco reps to use the dashboard to help pursue their sustainability goals around campus

 

• Having energy information be accessible will change behavior

• • Students looking at the amount of energy wasted should encourage them to use less energy

 

• The dashboard will be well marketed and advertised

• • Lehigh should spread awareness about the dashboard to students around campus so it’ll be used by students and can make a difference

 

• Incentives will be provided by Lehigh

• • Incentives encourage students to use the app and we expect lehigh to provide them

 

• The website will work correctly even when the original developers aren’t maintaining it

• • The capstone students can’t maintain the project forever, so we hope other students or a lehigh organization can maintain it

 

• Information collected is correct

• • Meter data needs to be correct and accurate for the site to work properly

 

• Lehigh will use the dashboard for sustainability efforts

• • We expect Lehigh to use the dashboard to view where lehigh can be more sustainable and also where money can be saved

 

• The app will work as intended

• • The app is still in development and it’s unknown when the app will be able to be used by the community as a whole

 

•  Nobody will use the app maliciously

• • Students could purposely try to increase energy usage in buildings around campus as a “joke”. For instance, a greek life house could try to increase their energy usage to “brag” that they are the highest energy consuming house