Role of 'community spaces' in residents' adaptation to energy-efficient heating technologies-Insights from a UK low-energy housing development

Oliveira, Sonja and Marco, Elena (2018) Role of 'community spaces' in residents' adaptation to energy-efficient heating technologies-Insights from a UK low-energy housing development. Sustainability, 10 (4). 934. ISSN 2071-1050 (https://doi.org/10.3390/su10040934)

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Abstract

Advanced energy-efficient heating technologies are often integral to low-energy home design, practice, and policy. The expectation is that technologies designed to lower space-heating energy use may also contribute to better performing buildings and a comfortable indoor environment. Too often, though, it is found that residents do not use technologies as intended due to multiple socio-technological phenomena. Whilst increasing efforts have been made to better understand residents’ social engagement with energy-efficient heating technologies, there is a lack of evidence that takes into account the wider context of a housing development. This paper draws on residents’ experiences across 40 dwellings in a recently completed low-energy residential development in the United Kingdom (UK). Implications of the research are twofold. First, the study contributes to a better understanding of the emerging roles, motivations, and expectations that a ‘community’ has for residents living in domestic low-energy environments. Second, there are implications for design professions to take account of the potential effects that specific external collective spaces such as playgrounds, allotments, and gardens can have on the ways that residents adapt to new technologies within their home. There are also implications for international energy policies on low-energy housing, specifically in relation to energy efficiency technology adaptation and learning.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:78589
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    23 March 2018
    Published
    15 March 2018
    Accepted
    Subjects:Fine Arts > Architecture
    Department:Faculty of Engineering > Architecture
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:16 Nov 2021 15:14
    Last modified:11 Nov 2024 13:17
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/78589
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