Selection of Gamification Elements for Demand Side Energy Management: An Application Using Hesitant Fuzzy AHP

Energy Demand Side Management (EDSM) is defined as the modification of consumer demand for energy. EDSM can be used for different purposes such as reducing peak demand, filling low demand time, strategic demand savings, strategic growth of demand, load-shifting, and flexible load shaping. EDSM can be managed by either Direct Load Control, in which local and central controllers directly affect the consumption, or Indirect Load Control which uses incentives, tariffs, and additional payments that affect consumer behavior. In recent years, with the advances in information and communication technologies, remote monitoring and control of electric devices have become possible. This technology has also enabled gamification approach, which aims to shape human behavior through the intrinsically motivating qualities used in well-designed digital games, to be used for EDSM domain. However, the current literature shows that gamification of EDSM can involve various gamification elements such as avatars, challenges, feedback, leaderboard, rewards, and rankings. Thus, development of an efficient gamification approach requires selection of appropriate gamification elements that will be used in the system. In this chapter, the design of gamification approach is formulated as a multi-criteria decision-making problem, and Hesitant Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method which integrates decision makers’ hesitancy into the decision problem is used for the solution. To this end, an extended literature review is conducted to present current gamification studies in the literature, then gamification alternatives and decision model are proposed. Finally, a real-world numerical example is conducted.