The Impact of Green Feedback on Users’ Software Usage

The rise of the energy impact of software systems requires the need to optimize and reduce their energy consumption. One area often neglected is the important role played by users to drive energy reductions. In this paper, we aim to reduce the energy impact of software by pushing end users to change their software usage behavior, through raising awareness and providing software green feedback. We present a comprehensive and detailed field study of the impact of green feedback on software usage by end users, and the efficiency of green feedback on software behavioral change, using a distributed architecture aimed at providing accurate green feedback in real time. We find that green feedback helps in raising awareness about software energy, and on the willingness of users to apply energy-efficient changes. However, we also find that users lack the knowledge and tools to properly adopt lasting and energy-effective behavioral changes.