The first test participants have now had their Lodestar installed. On Lodestars web service, they can see their electricity consumption in various aspects.
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Visualized in a graph:

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Numerical statistics:

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My consumption in comparison:

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My record, and what the difference would be if everyone in the country consumed by my record:

The first Lodestar prototypes starting to take shape!
Plastic to the boxes are cut out and put togheter. Glue-free!

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Ready for the technology!

Issue
In some way electricity is an infinite resource. Electricity is an energy deliver, and energy can never disappear only transform. Electricity in itself creates no environmental pollution, and because it´s an infinite resource, it shouldn`t be a problem to use as much as we want, right?
The problem is that even though energy is infinite, the way [...]

Lodestar has a logo!
In previews post Say hello to Lodestar! the meaning behind the name Lodestar is explained as a guiding star and a role model.
The logo shape can be seen as a star — a Lodestar that guiding us in our energy consumtion with light, colour and direction. The four directions in the logo [...]

One functionality that we pretty much from the beginning wanted to include in the gadget was a lab- or test function. By this functionality you can investigate and learn about the power usage of a certain product in your home. This individual knowledge is important for making rational choices about which changes in behavior are [...]

Darja was interviewed on the inUseful blog about an upcoming speaking gig, where she’s talking about “When computers are no longer visible”. She mentions the advent of augmented reality, and how the “smart home” is not about being able to surf the web from every piece of furniture, but taking advantage of the fact that [...]

Just a quick post to tell the world that the Lab1 team have decided on a name! After months of agonizing discussion, hundreds (literally!) of suggestions from us and others, research into existing products, clever puns and overused clichés, we finally settled.
(If you need a quick background on what the project is about, check the [...]

As you might have figured out the product consists of 3 units: gadget, meter and web. And the basic functionality is that the meter measures your electricity consumption, sends this to the web, the web stores the data and tells the gadget what to display.
The amount of data being transferred from the meter (for the [...]

The point of the gadget is to act as a reminder, and make us aware of our power usage. To get this function in a home, the gadget needs to be placed in an everyday area. So the gadget must have a form that people like to interact with; learn from, communicate with, look on, [...]

We’ve previously described why we’ve chosen to use LED’s for our product. The simple answer is that LED’s are very energy efficient. However, some have claimed that they might not be the best choice after all, if the entire process of producing each lamp is taken into consideration.