Coordinator:
Martin O'CONNOR

V GAS Build Profile

The V GAS Build Profile (or Personal Barometer) aims at accounting personal emissions of the 3 greenhouse gases considered in this product (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide), based on personal consuming patterns and regional or national energy and other situations.

A 3D world is created, representing a house customisable for the user's type of house, in terms of size and objects in the house, in particular in the kitchen and living room. Each object is associated a window through which all information and settings are displayed. The first step when entering in the 3D house is to define its typology, as well as the default figures for local climate, fuel mix, agricultural practice and waste management in the region/ country must be confirmed or reintroduced according to the user's knowledge. The user must also choose a country (from the set available - France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and UK) since this choice determines the use of some of the statistics in the calculations performed by the greenhouse gases calculator.

From the user's choices, several outputs are given, including graphs for the emissions of each one of the three greenhouse gases and for the home comfort, functionality and expenditures. Further the users are presented with detailed balances for the sources of emissions and for the sources of fuel and electricity consumption.

The main goal of this feature is empowerment and self-reflection and debate about connections of lifestyles and global issues, in particular climate change.