Beam
A solar energy management system that optimizes cost-effectiveness and facilities energy sharing. Received an Honourable Mention in UX Design (2025 Student RGD Awards).
TIMELINE
Nov 2024
TEAM
Sam Overend, Jocelyn Zin
tools & skills
User Research, Product Design
BACKGROUND
By 2040, it is estimated that almost one-third of the world’s electricity will come from solar energy.
This includes 10% from residential solar systems.
Solar energy is increasingly popular in home energy management systems. It harnesses renewable energy, saves money electricity bills, and reduces carbon footprints. As solar panels become cheaper and more efficient, we decided to explore how solar energy can be managed in smart homes.
pain points
Solar panels can generate excess electricity during summer, leading to a surplus of energy that often gets dumped.
With the rise of renewable energy sources, energy prices can vary greatly (even within a single day) due to dynamic tariffs.
problem statement
Users need a way to optimize their solar energy consumption based on cost-effectiveness.
challenge
Our challenge was to create a physical product and accompanying mobile app to address efficiency problems regarding the use of solar energy in residential systems.
competitive analysis
We researched existing smart home devices, keeping in mind how they could evolve in the next few years. Specific products we looked at were the Ecobee Smart Thermostat, the EcoFlow Smart Home Panel 2, and Google Nest. From this, we gathered the following features that were effective and would work well for our product:
Adjust temperature and turn on vacation mode from your phone.
Manage temperature automatically through occupancy detection.
Smart learning to adapt to user's routine.
Save excess energy in a portable power station.
Check real-time battery status and supply levels.
Facilitate energy sharing.
personas
user journey map
information architecture
solution
Monitor and optimize solar energy consumption.
Our final solution, Beam, is a sleek, wall-mounted smart interface that is connected to an app for maximum control over solar energy consumption.
Gives users more control over their excess solar energy. Do they want to save it for winter, share it with the grid, or sell it?
Integrates seamlessly with a home’s solar panels, battery storage cells, and grid connection to provide real-time insights and control over energy use by room or device.
Adapts to the user's routine and provides smart suggestions to optimize energy saving.
design
For our design, we kept the interface modern and sleek to reflect the future-forward nature of the product. Colours were mostly limited to mustard yellow (to reflect solar energy) and greyscale tones.
lessons learned
Technology can enable sustainable living.
This project was a great exercise in user research as we had to envision a futuristic world for Beam to exist in. As the world moves towards clean and renewable energy sources, products like Beam will help people live a more sustainable lifestyle.