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Building Dashboard® Orbs
When you look at Building Dashboard, you'll notice something glowing. This "orb" tells how your building is performing right now by translating levels of consumption into a spectrum of colors. If consumption is high, the orb will glow fiery red. If it's mellow, the orb is yellow. If it's lower than usual, you'll find the orb glowing a cool green.
The color spectrum found on the orb is determined by your recent pattern of consumption. Imagine it's 8:00pm. You normally consume very little during this evening hour, yet your consumption right now is higher than average. As a result, you'll see the orb advance toward red. Likewise, shades of green indicate when consumption is below average.
Orb Technology Research
Working with Lucid co-founder Dr. John Petersen at Oberlin College, Lucid has collaborated on real-time energy orb technology that tells building residents how they are performing throughout the day. As they enter or exit a building, students and visitors pass glowing orbs, each indicating their building or floor's current level of consumption.
Orbs connect remotely to Lucid's servers to harness the same real-time consumption information found on Building Dashboard. On the web, virtual orbs complement the physical orbs displayed in the buildings.
Photo credit: Chris Hamby
Power meters help homeowners track and cut their energy use
"Out on the high frontier of energy efficiency, John Petersen sees a future where every home has a building dashboard and an energy orb to help Americans shift from electricity-gulping ignorance to power-sipping sophistication."
Energy Efficiency Markets chooses its favorites of 2008
"Best appliance: Energy orb. Remember the mood rings we wore as kids? The stone changed color depending on how we felt. Here is a variation on the theme: an orb that signals the energy mood of a building."
Dorm competition lights up with energy orbs
"Because electricity is invisible, the orbs are an innovative breakthrough. Like a crystal ball, they make electricity visible by translating basic consumption information into a spectrum of colors." -- John Petersen
"It's a way of alleviating 'information overload' by moving data off a computer screen and into our present environment." -- Adam Hull
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