Painting the Town Green: The temporal evolution of low-carbon practices in UK eco-developments
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Research concerned with decarbonising the UK energy system has traditionally been focused on the innovation and diffusing of low carbon and energy efficient technologies, with far more limited attention given to how people actually live with, adapt to or re-purpose new systems and devices. As such, social science engagement with energy, and specifically heat, transitions has failed to adequately account for how technologies are critically shaped by (and in turn shape) everyday routines, social practices and social interactions, and the institutional arrangements through which they are diffused.
The production and supply of heat is a key element in the UK transition to a low carbon energy system (Rudd, 2015). This project takes the case of off-grid district heating to explore how low-carbon heating systems, and associated physical and institutional transformations, impact on the ways domestic energy users conceptualise and engage with heating infrastructures, and with what consequences for energy demand.
The case study will be Exeter's Cranbrook residential development. East Devon District Council, Devon County Council, the South West of England Regional Development Agency, and the Homes and Communities Agency worked with a major utility (E.ON) to facilitate the establishment of a CHP district heating system for Cranbrook. The district heating scheme has been operational since October 2012. The plans for Cranbrook are to develop up to 6,000 dwellings over a 15 year period. Some 700 homes have been built, with around 500 currently occupied.
Drawing on three, mixed-method, phases of data collection: i) key stakeholder interviews ii) community survey (n = 500) iii) repeat householder interviews (20 households) the project will:
i) explore routine domestic interactions with a low carbon heating system
ii) explore how the socio-technical features of a low carbon district heating system (e.g. infrastructure components, market arrangements) impinge on everyday social practices, values and relationships, and what this means for (changing) patterns of energy consumption
iii) draw theoretical conclusions for the social, technological and institutional configuration of low carbon energy transitions
| University of Exeter | LEAD_ORG |
| Karen Bickerstaff | SUPER_PER |
| Patrick Devine-Wright | SUPER_PER |
| Stewart Barr | SUPER_PER |
Subjects by relevance
- District heating
- Energy consumption (energy technology)
- Heating systems
- Energy policy
- Energy efficiency
- Households (organisations)
- Infrastructures
- Residence
- Technology
- Energy production (process industry)
- Climate changes
Extracted key phrases
- Low carbon district heating system
- Low carbon energy system
- Low carbon heating system
- Low carbon energy transition
- UK energy system
- CHP district heating system
- Carbon practice
- Way domestic energy user
- Grid district heating
- District heating scheme
- Energy efficient technology
- Everyday social practice
- Town Green
- Purpose new system
- Temporal evolution