IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v148y2021ipbs0301421520307175.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumers or users? The impact of user learning about smart hybrid heat pumps on policy trajectories for heat decarbonisation

Author

Listed:
  • Parrish, Bryony
  • Hielscher, Sabine
  • Foxon, Timothy J.

Abstract

Decarbonisation policies often emphasise the uptake of new end-use technologies, seeing people as consumers of technologies with predictable impacts. In the UK, smart hybrid heat pumps (SHHP) have attracted policy interest as a technology potentially offering multiple benefits for home heat decarbonisation. This paper draws on domestication theory, a perspective that frames people as users who actively learn about technologies, to analyse interviews and observations with installers and users involved in the first UK trial of SHHP. This perspective reveals that users’ learning about SHHPs may erode part of the energy savings they offer and have implications for future technology uptake, including the trajectories of heat decarbonisation currently envisaged by policy makers. However, it also reveals opportunities for policy making to influence user learning, including paying closer attention to material elements such as radiator controls and space to air laundry alongside improved information provision. This could be supported by engaging with users as their learning emerges over time. Overall, the paper highlights the policy relevance of technology use as well as uptake and adds to calls for energy policy to think beyond information provision and economic incentives to engage with households, implying a less deterministic approach to policy making.

Suggested Citation

  • Parrish, Bryony & Hielscher, Sabine & Foxon, Timothy J., 2021. "Consumers or users? The impact of user learning about smart hybrid heat pumps on policy trajectories for heat decarbonisation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:148:y:2021:i:pb:s0301421520307175
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.112006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421520307175
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.112006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sun, Mingyang & Djapic, Predrag & Aunedi, Marko & Pudjianto, Danny & Strbac, Goran, 2019. "Benefits of smart control of hybrid heat pumps: An analysis of field trial data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 525-536.
    2. Jensen, Charlotte Louise & Goggins, Gary & Røpke, Inge & Fahy, Frances, 2019. "Achieving sustainability transitions in residential energy use across Europe: The importance of problem framings," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    3. Johan Schot & Laur Kanger & Geert Verbong, 2016. "The roles of users in shaping transitions to new energy systems," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(5), pages 1-7, May.
    4. Michelsen, Carl Christian & Madlener, Reinhard, 2013. "Motivational factors influencing the homeowners’ decisions between residential heating systems: An empirical analysis for Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 221-233.
    5. Hyysalo, Sampsa & Juntunen, Jouni K. & Freeman, Stephanie, 2013. "User innovation in sustainable home energy technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 490-500.
    6. Owen, A. & Mitchell, G. & Gouldson, A., 2014. "Unseen influence—The role of low carbon retrofit advisers and installers in the adoption and use of domestic energy technology," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 169-179.
    7. Labanca, Nicola & Bertoldi, Paolo, 2018. "Beyond energy efficiency and individual behaviours: policy insights from social practice theories," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 494-502.
    8. Markard, Jochen & Raven, Rob & Truffer, Bernhard, 2012. "Sustainability transitions: An emerging field of research and its prospects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 955-967.
    9. Sorrell, Steve & Dimitropoulos, John & Sommerville, Matt, 2009. "Empirical estimates of the direct rebound effect: A review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1356-1371, April.
    10. Parrish, Bryony & Heptonstall, Phil & Gross, Rob & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2020. "A systematic review of motivations, enablers and barriers for consumer engagement with residential demand response," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vassilis M. Charitopoulos & Mathilde Fajardy & Chi Kong Chyong & David M. Reiner, 2022. "The case of 100% electrification of domestic heat in Great Britain," Working Papers EPRG2206, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    2. Beccali, Marco & Bonomolo, Marina & Martorana, Francesca & Catrini, Pietro & Buscemi, Alessandro, 2022. "Electrical hybrid heat pumps assisted by natural gas boilers: a review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    3. Clare Hanmer & Charlie Wilson & Oreane Y. Edelenbosch & Detlef P. van Vuuren, 2022. "Translating Global Integrated Assessment Model Output into Lifestyle Change Pathways at the Country and Household Level," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-31, February.
    4. Soutar, Iain & Devine-Wright, Patrick & Rohse, Melanie & Walker, Chad & Gooding, Luke & Devine-Wright, Hannah & Kay, Imogen, 2022. "Constructing practices of engagement with users and communities: Comparing emergent state-led smart local energy systems," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Murto, Pekka & Jalas, Mikko & Juntunen, Jouni & Hyysalo, Sampsa, 2019. "The difficult process of adopting a comprehensive energy retrofit in housing companies: Barriers posed by nascent markets and complicated calculability," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 955-964.
    2. Goggins, Gary & Rau, Henrike & Moran, Paul & Fahy, Frances & Goggins, Jamie, 2022. "The role of culture in advancing sustainable energy policy and practice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Chad M. Baum & Christian Gross, 2017. "Sustainability policy as if people mattered: developing a framework for environmentally significant behavioral change," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 53-95, April.
    4. Kivimaa, Paula & Boon, Wouter & Hyysalo, Sampsa & Klerkx, Laurens, 2019. "Towards a typology of intermediaries in sustainability transitions: A systematic review and a research agenda," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 1062-1075.
    5. Hyysalo, Sampsa & Juntunen, Jouni K. & Martiskainen, Mari, 2018. "Energy Internet forums as acceleration phase transition intermediaries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(5), pages 872-885.
    6. Weigelt, Carmen & Lu, Shaohua & Verhaal, J. Cameron, 2021. "Blinded by the sun: The role of prosumers as niche actors in incumbent firms’ adoption of solar power during sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    7. Nikolas Schöne & Kathrin Greilmeier & Boris Heinz, 2022. "Survey-Based Assessment of the Preferences in Residential Demand Response on the Island of Mayotte," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-30, February.
    8. Zbigniew Bohdanowicz & Beata Łopaciuk-Gonczaryk & Jarosław Kowalski & Cezary Biele, 2021. "Households’ Electrical Energy Conservation and Management: An Ecological Break-Through, or the Same Old Consumption-Growth Path?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-21, October.
    9. Murto, P. & Jalas, M. & Juntunen, J. & Hyysalo, S., 2019. "Devices and strategies: An analysis of managing complexity in energy retrofit projects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Galvin, Ray, 2020. "Who co-opted our energy efficiency gains? A sociology of macro-level rebound effects and US car makers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    11. Webber, Phil & Gouldson, Andy & Kerr, Niall, 2015. "The impacts of household retrofit and domestic energy efficiency schemes: A large scale, ex post evaluation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 35-43.
    12. Jenkins, Kirsten & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & McCauley, Darren, 2018. "Humanizing sociotechnical transitions through energy justice: An ethical framework for global transformative change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 66-74.
    13. Sharmeen, Fariya & Ghosh, Bipashyee & Mateo-Babiano, Iderlina, 2021. "Policy, users and discourses: Examples from bikeshare programs in (Kolkata) India and (Manila) Philippines," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Turnheim, Bruno & Nykvist, Björn, 2019. "Opening up the feasibility of sustainability transitions pathways (STPs): Representations, potentials, and conditions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 775-788.
    15. Sylwia Słupik & Joanna Kos-Łabędowicz & Joanna Trzęsiok, 2021. "An Innovative Approach to Energy Consumer Segmentation—A Behavioural Perspective. The Case of the Eco-Bot Project," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-26, June.
    16. Soutar, Iain & Devine-Wright, Patrick & Rohse, Melanie & Walker, Chad & Gooding, Luke & Devine-Wright, Hannah & Kay, Imogen, 2022. "Constructing practices of engagement with users and communities: Comparing emergent state-led smart local energy systems," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    17. Dierk Bauknecht & Allan Dahl Andersen & Karoline Dunne, 2020. "Challenges for electricity network governance in Energy transitions: Insights from Norway," Working Papers on Innovation Studies 20200115, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo.
    18. Büttgen, Marion & Hogreve, Jens & Zechiel, Felix & Bartsch, Silke & Lorz, Tamara & Trischler, Jakob & Westman Trischler, Jessica & Kuusisto, Jari & Svensson, Peter & Keiningham, Timothy & Aksoy, Lerza, 2023. "Sustainability in Service Research," SMR - Journal of Service Management Research, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 7(3), pages 147-173.
    19. Arjan Kirkels & Vince Evers & Gerrit Muller, 2021. "Systems Engineering for the Energy Transition: Potential Contributions and Limitations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-13, May.
    20. Hugo Lucas & Ruth Carbajo & Tomoo Machiba & Evgeny Zhukov & Luisa F. Cabeza, 2021. "Improving Public Attitude towards Renewable Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:148:y:2021:i:pb:s0301421520307175. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.