Gamifying Solar Installation

Blocks and neighborhoods compete by tracking solar installation progress through scores, motivating residents, community leaders, and solar reps to boost clean energy adoption through friendly competition.

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This project uses a gamified approach to encourage the adoption of rooftop solar panels in residential communities. By leveraging a Mapbox-generated map of San Francisco neighborhoods, the design creates a simple, visual, and competitive system that fosters community involvement and solar adoption through game mechanics. Each household, block, and neighborhood contributes to a collective solar progress score, motivating residents to take part in increasing clean energy in their area.

Key Features:

  • Interactive Map Visualization:
    • A Mapbox-generated map displays several blocks in San Francisco, showing each house as a land parcel.
    • Each parcel features an empty circle, which gets a smiling sun icon when solar panels are installed—similar to placing a sticker on a star chart.
  • Block-Level Scoring:
    • Each block is given a score that reflects the percentage of houses with rooftop solar installed.
    • For example, if 3 out of 28 houses have solar, the block receives a score of 11%.
    • Blocks compete against each other in a team-versus-team format, encouraging healthy competition.
  • Neighborhood Master Score:
    • The entire neighborhood is given a collective master score or progress bar, which aggregates solar adoption from all blocks.
    • This nested scoring system allows residents to see how their individual solar installation contributes to both block and neighborhood-wide progress.
  • Team Competition Dynamic:
    • The competitive nature of team sports is mirrored, with blocks representing teams aiming to increase their solar scores and outperform neighboring blocks.
  • Motivational and Persuasive Tool:
    • Community leaders, influencers, and solar panel sales representatives can use the gamified map to motivate residents to install rooftop solar.
    • The visual and competitive elements create a persuasive tool for increasing clean energy adoption.

By incorporating a simple and engaging game design, this platform provides a clear visualization of progress, encourages competition, and makes clean energy adoption a community-driven initiative.

Psychology Techniques

Disclosure

When the government enforces mandatory disclosure of environmental impact in the form of a label or sticker that must be displayed at the point of sale.

Rewards

A digital, physical, or emotional reward given to the participant after they complete a task or improve their performance.

Tracking Progress

A mechanism for tracking progress towards a goal that brings attention to, and rewards progress.

Character Expressions

The facial expression of a character animal or emoji is used to communicate data as "happy" or "sad" in lieu of using a number or color.

Community Scale Feedback

Publicly displayed data showing a community's collective environmental impact as a group.

Group Goal

When a group collectively works together towards a shared goal to help maintain persistent motivation.

Block Leader

A self-appointed community leader who talks to neighbors on nearby streets and brings them together to support residential environmental goals.

Social Comparison

Comparing an objective measure of one person or entity's environmental score against others or against the group average.

Social Signaling

A tool for people to publicly display their green performance that stimulates others to imitate the behavior.