Informing citizens about green transition topics is an area that must evolve and change as technology advances. Green energy and society's transition to a more ecologically aware operation at the state and individual level have been at the forefront of discussions within the European Union and world politics. Green transition also includes energy communities that work in harmony and ensure energy self-sufficiency. The nature of energy communities requires the participation of citizens who are the main agents of change in such environments, so their education is key to the successful functioning of the society of the future.
In this work, we propose the use of gamification and public displays to inform citizens about selected topics of energy communities. For this purpose, we have developed a prototype of an interactive simulation that uses gamification to inform users about self-sufficient energy communities in a more interesting way. The content of the interactive simulation is accessible on a public display, and users can directly influence it using the mobile interface. In this way, they can actively monitor the events and the effects of their decisions and get to know the presented topic in more detail together with other users in the public place.
The results of user testing confirmed the effectiveness of this approach to informing users about energy communities. We found that the method of interaction with the mobile phone and public portals is understandable to users. Most users were of the opinion that they would join the interactive simulation more than once. The mutual interaction of users during testing and the continuation of conversations after, confirmed to us that the interactive simulation encourages further discussion about the presented topic.
The presented gamification implementation process is not only limited to a self-sufficient energy community. With further work on the field of interactive simulations the presented process can be transferred to other areas as well. Interactive simulations can represent the next step towards informing citizens about important topics.
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