Unraveling everyday heating practices in residential homes

The home as a system of practice and its implications for energy and water metabolism

“…Home residents were not strictly motivated by 11 thermal needs when they operated the heating system. Some turn on the heater as part of a 12 routine for the colder months, when arriving home from work, whereas others seek a hedonic 13 experience instead of wearing warmer clothes when the temperature falls (Eon et al, 2017;14 Shove, 2003). 15 Figure 3 provides the example of three homes that operated the heater during weekdays in July 16 2015, the middle of the Australian winter.…”

The Planetary Accounting Framework: a novel, quota-based approach to understanding the impacts of any scale of human activity in the context of the Planetary Boundaries

“…Studies based on observed behaviour show that there are many factors which influence decisions and that behaviour is very difficult to predict [21][22][23]. Lifestyle, position within a family, within society, or at work, culture, motivations, past behaviours, habits, social norms, context, and technology all play a role [21,22,24]. In the past, behaviour change efforts have typically been targeted at community and personal values, and social norms [24].…”

“…Lifestyle, position within a family, within society, or at work, culture, motivations, past behaviours, habits, social norms, context, and technology all play a role [21,22,24]. In the past, behaviour change efforts have typically been targeted at community and personal values, and social norms [24]. The findings that technology and context are key elements that influence decision making highlight the importance of infrastructure and technology and therefore governance and industry in driving pro-environmental (or other) decisions.…”

“…On the other hand, small-scale or local initiatives alone would be insufficient to manage a global problem such as climate change as many opportunities to reduce impacts rely on decisions which can only be made at a larger scale [39]. Although the literature on behaviour change shows mixed results there is powerful evidence that when design and technology are changed to focus on the appropriate scale, then the results can be positive [24,[42][43][44].…”

“…Thus, global management theory needs to be applied to global environmental management and, in particular, the scale at which most people are engaged must be clarified. It is these poly-scalar approaches that lead to changes in design, technology, regulations, and hence behaviour [24,44]. Such an approach would likely help to resolve the many issues inherent in managing globally shared resources and create opportunities for meaningful change.…”