Lees, T and Sexton, M (2012) The domestication and use of low and zero carbon technologies in new homes. In: Smith, S D (ed.) Proceedings of 28th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2012, Edinburgh, UK.
Abstract
Changes in the Building Regulations are demanding higher levels of environmental performance in the products of house builders in the United Kingdom. New approaches are being deployed, including incorporating low and zero carbon (LZC) technologies, in order to meet this challenge. It is recognized that the use phase of buildings is responsible for a significant majority of the energy consumption and therefore carbon emissions. A corpus of literature exists focusing on the technical potential of individual technologies but there is a relative dirth addressing the role that the end users (or occupants) play in the use of these technologies in the domestic setting of the home. If the overall objective of lowering carbon emissions is to be realized it is therefore critical that a more in-depth and nuanced understanding of the interaction between homes equipped with new LZC technologies and users is developed. Case study data from two households in a new development using solar thermal technology is analysed from a domestication theory perspective. The results show that the households had little knowledge of, or interest in, the technology prior to moving into the houses. The 'market pull' of consumer design or imagination for the solar thermal technology was absent
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | domestication; housebuilding; low and zero carbon technologies; socio-technical |
| Index terms: | case study, interaction, carbon emission, domestication, household, socio-technical, builder, housebuilding, United Kingdom, energy consumption, end user, environmental performance, building regulation |
| Subjects: | behavioral psychology, construction integration, data collection methods, regulatory law, climate science, communities and social development, Geography, practitioner, research methods, stakeholder, energy systems, sustainability assessment, demography |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Legal Issues, Engineering Principles, Stakeholder Management, Sustainability, Urban Studies, Geographical Context, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here