Participatory design of an eco-feedback tool with teens for community energy futures

Energy systems increasingly require active citizen participation, yet youth voices remain marginalized in energy technology design. This paper reports on participatory design studies with 21 teenagers (ages 12–14) from economically disadvantaged areas of London, exploring how youth conceptualize community energy sharing. Using participatory design, we conducted workshops across two secondary schools involving scenario-based design, persona development, and low-fidelity prototyping around solar energy sharing scenarios. Students designed eco-feedback applications featuring priority systems based on social circumstances, negotiation tools, and community profiles emphasizing social relationships over individual optimization. Our findings reveal teenagers’ energy citizenship perspectives that challenge adult-centric approaches by prioritizing care, social justice, and interdependence over efficiency metrics. Students demonstrated sophisticated understanding of energy justice, designing transparent processes for democratic energy allocation and viewing technology as mediating community communication rather than algorithmic authority. This work contributes methodological approaches for youth participatory design in sustainability contexts and demonstrates how engaging young people reveals alternative visions for just energy transitions. • Youth prioritized social justice in energy sharing system design. • Teens designed AI as communication facilitator, not authority figure. • Participants showed sophisticated computational empowerment perspectives. • Personas effectively surfaced teens’ values around collective responsibility. • Youth energy citizenship models challenge adult-centric approaches.