Energy Efficiency
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Free UX patterns for energy-efficient online shopping
To accelerate sustainable transition, this library is free and open source under Creative Commons License CC BY 4.0: You may use and adapt. Resale is not permitted. Attribution is appreciated.
Purchase decisions for energy-intensive products are increasingly made online — fast, convenient and largely price-driven. Despite legal requirements and availability, energy efficiency data has little influence on this consumer behaviour. The UX patterns in this collection aim to make this information visible, understandable, and behaviourally effective.
Customer Journey Stage
01
Recognize need
Anchoring
Reframe search ads from low price to long-term cost.
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Agentic AI
Make efficiency data machine-readable so AI agents can recommend efficient products.
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Customer Journey Stage
02
Search for products
Efficiency First Sorting
Sort products by efficiency on default while keeping all alternatives accessible.
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Efficiency Default Filter
Preselect the highest efficiency class as the default product filter.
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Lifetime Cost Teaser
Suggest more efficient alternatives on low-efficiency product detail pages.
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Customer Journey Stage
03
Evaluate and compare
Efficiency Framing
Frame comparisons around efficiency, repairability and long-term value.
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Cost-over-time-slider
Put purchase price and running costs over time in perspective.
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Customer Journey Stage
04
Purchase
Reassurance
Support completion of a Class A purchase through repairability and durability benefits.
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Alternative recommendation
Tease more efficient product alternatives directly in the shopping cart.
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Customer Journey Stage
05
Post purchase
Validation
Confirm the long-term savings and impact of the efficient purchase decision.
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Customer Journey Stage
06
Use
Reinforcement
Use delivery waiting time to encourage efficient product use and habits.
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Peer-reviewed paper on this project
How online retailers and consumers can benefit from digital product information to support energy-efficient choices
Eva Geilinger, Kasper Mogensen, Juraj Krivošík, Peter Post
Published on Aug 6, 2026 by the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (eceee)
Abstract
Peer-reviewed paper 8-204-26
This paper investigates how digital product information and user experience (UX) design can be leveraged in online retail to support energy efficient consumer choices. Drawing on two complementary projects, it combines empirical evidence on consumers’ interest with practical design ideas for e-commerce.
The first part reports findings from a consumer survey conducted between November 2024 and January 2025 within the EU LIFE funded EPREL Services project, covering more than 2,500 respondents across ten EU countries. The results confirm that over 90% of consumers rely on online information sources such as reviews, product tests and retailer pages, yet the EPREL database and the QR codes on EU energy labels are barely used. When searching for products, consumers value completeness of information and filters most highly, followed by comparison functionalities and sorting by price, features or brand. Cost related and efficiency related criteria dominate purchase decisions for household appliances and heating systems, while purchase price prevails for consumer electronics. To close the gap between consumer interest and current online information, EPREL Services is building an integrated web application that links EPREL data with market, cost and availability information.
The second part presents concrete UX design patterns developed between October 2025 and May 2026 to promote energy efficiency in Switzerland. The patterns are freely available online as inspiration for UX designers and e-commerce decision-makers worldwide. The paper also reflects on the rise of agentic AI shopping, which will require online retailers to optimise for both human and machine readers.
The authors argue that regulators should consider making filters and lifetime cost calculators mandatory in the online market.
Project partners
Funding
Studio Peter Post × Petra Esveld
Studio Peter Post × Petra Esveld is a design studio focussing on ux- and service design for the circular economy and branding for public institutions, NGOs and Non-Profits.
Development
SwissEnergy
SwissEnergy is the Swiss Federal Council’s programme for supporting voluntary measures to improve energy efficiency and promote renewable energy.
Circular-Experience.org
Circular-Experience.org is the circular economy design practice of Studio Peter Post × Petra Esveld, specialising in service design and user experience design for sustainable products and systems.