(2024)
BC Home Energy Planner
Leading the end-to-end service design for a provincial tool for BC's Ministry of Energy & Climate Solutions aiming to introduce 5.6 million BC homeowners to home energy upgrade retrofits.
Role :
Service Design Lead
Team :
EMLI CleanBC
Timeline :
Apr 2024 - Mar 2025
Type :
G2C Provincial Service
Context
Summary to Retrofits, Current Pipeline, Problem Statement
Highlights
Summary to Retrofits, Current Pipeline, Problem Statement
Process
Summary to Retrofits, Current Pipeline, Problem Statement
Final Thoughts
Summary to Retrofits, Current Pipeline, Problem Statement
Designing for a more sustainable future.
Performance of the provincial service in numbers.
4
CITIES
Launched the pilot
Piloted in New Westminster, Smithers, Saanich Core & Kootenay Boundary.
800+
Unique pilot users
Onboarded during the 5 month pilot period between Aug - Dec 2024.
82%
Service completion rate
Of users that have successfully onboarded and began the first step of the service.
4.4/5
Average feedback rating
In a post-service survey asking pilot users to rate their overall experience.
CONTEXT
A Quick Summary on Home Energy Retrofit Upgrades
Home Energy Retrofit Upgrades involves making modifications to a home in order to improve its energy efficiency and sustainability.
Air-Source Heat Pump
Transfers heat between outdoor and indoor air for heating and cooling.
Double/Triple Pane Windows
Retains indoor heat during winter and blocks external heat in the summer.
ENERGY STAR-rated Appliances
Efficient appliances reduces energy consumption and lowers utility bills.
Heat Pump Water Heater
3-4 times less electricity than traditional electric water heaters.
Solar Panels
Generates renewable electricity, reducing bills and reliance on the grid.
Insulation & Sealing Air Leaks
Reduces heat transfer in walls, attics & floors and prevents heat loss.
Improved Comfort & Air Quality All Year Round
Maintains consistent indoor temperatures while reducing allergens and pollutants.
Increased Efficiency, Decreased Bills
Significant cost savings on heating, cooling, and electricity.
Contribute to a Cleaner Environment
Reduce home's carbon footprint and help lower greenhouse emissions.
Proposed Retrofit Application Pipeline
Holistic provincial system designed to accelerate adoption of energy retrofit upgrades in BC.
B.C. is rising to the challenge of climate change, however retrofit upgrade adoption remains slow.
Only
13%
of B.C. households were using heat pumps as a primary or secondary heating source as of 2024.
Ministry of Energy and Climate Solution's CleanBC is accelerating B.C.'s shift to cleaner home energy. To achieve this, CleanBC proposes the BC Home Energy Planner, a provincial service that bridges the gap between initial discovery and retrofit implementation.
How Might We ...
Create a provincial service…
for
BC Homeowners
to
help them assess their home's current energy efficiency and carbon emissions, discover the most effective retrofit options and rebates thats best tailored to their needs, and be motivated to begin adopting these upgrades into their homes.
HIGHLIGHTS
Helping BC homeowners better understand their home's energy efficiency.
The provincial tool uses public data to assess how well a home uses energy. Users are first onboarded to the provincial tool by matching their address with the homeowners personal details on record.
Tailoring the report to each homeowner’s unique energy retrofit journey.
Using the home’s public data as a starting point, homeowners provides additional data to the tool by answering a short questionnaire in order to improve the accuracy of the generated plan and report.
Step-by-step educational energy guide with insights, recommendations and resources.
A unique home energy upgrade plan is generated tailored to each home and homeowner. The plan first provides insight to homeowners on the current state of their home, and then recommends retrofit upgrades that can help.
TIMELINE
10 month contract.
Apr 2024 - Feb 2025
IMPACT
My Contribution.
As the sole designer, worked within a cross-functional AGILE development team to deliver a fully functional service in 6 months for its pilot launch, and in 5 months for iterations and bonus features for its official provincial launch.
Dev Team Composition
1x
Lead Service Designer
2x
UX Researcher/Strategist
2x
Full-Stack Developer
1x
QA Engineer
1x
Product Manager
1x
Product Owner
3x
Project Advisor
Practiced evidence-based design by conducting multiple rounds of homeowner interviews, testing and A/B tests to validate our design assumptions and repeatedly compared performance metrics of designs to ensure human centricity.
Instilled a design culture into the team by advocating for a structured design process, utilizing wireframes, flow diagrams, re-usable components and prototypes to communicate the user experience at various stages of the design process.