a b s t r a c tDomestic energy demand is a topical policy issue, with implications for climate change, energy vulnerability and security. Domestic energy demand varies considerably by country, climate, building type, and even when these factors are the same, occupancy patterns and inhabitant's lifestyles also create variation. However, clarifying understanding of the basic locus of analysis: the home, house, dwelling, or household has received little attention to date, despite its relevance to debates on energy demand. This paper explores the theoretical and methodological assumptions of investigating the 'house' compared to the 'home' and the implications for domestic energy researchers. We suggest that the ontological priority given to the 'home' results in scholarship which considers both social and physical aspects that shape demand. Conversely, research prioritising the 'house' is dominated by techno-economic thinking, and overlooks critical social considerations. Recognising this important distinction, we conclude with a plea for scholars to be cognisant of ontology and language, and provide some suggestions for a future research agenda.

Techno-economic approaches largely avoid delineating necessary energy uses or questioning how excessive lifestyle expectations may curtail attempts to achieve ambitious climate change targets. In this Perspective I present data suggesting a general trend of increasing domestic floor area per capita globally and argue that this ought to be a key focus in future energy research considering that house size is the largest determinant of domestic energy consumption. Particular attention should be directed at the confluence of factors that influence floor area per capita and questions of lifestyle expectations, energy sufficiency, and invisible energy policies which have enabled the rise in floor area per capita both deliberately and inadvertently. Overall, this elucidates why energy research must consider lifestyle expectations and demographic trends that are generally seen as outside the remit of energy policy.

Energy prosumption has become a common phrase as more householders and communities are producing and consuming their own electricity and heat. Prosumption is a combination of two words: production and consumption, and emerged as a concept at a time when consumers were beginning to be more proactive and take over steps traditionally thought of as ‘production’. In many ways, energy prosumption is nothing new (e.g. wood combustion), yet development of our modern energy system has changed the relationships between energy producers and consumers (e.g. smart meters, renewable energy production). Thus, there is a growing body of research interested in the motivation and conditions for the uptake of microgeneration technologies and the implications to energy infrastructures and big energy producers. However, this ‘energy prosumption’ scholarship generally lacks a strong conceptual foundation and misses the opportunity to build on existing prosumption literature and related debates. This paper brings the wealth of literature on prosumption into the energy context and reflects on the insights offered by a prosumption lens. Our study explores a particular manifestation of prosumption – when a household is simultaneously a producer and consumer of their heat and/or electricity via microgeneration – and we present data from semi-structured interviews with 28 households living with microgeneration technologies in Scotland, UK. Thus, we provide a robust framework from which future research on household and community energy prosumption can build.

This paper draws on a study of Scottish householders living in 'zero carbon' homes. It explores how broader understandings of home comfort may explain changes that result in home life becoming increasingly energy demanding, despite householders' intentions to save or decarbonise energy. The paper argues that domestic energy research must engage with the dreams, aspirations and images of home that ultimately drive energy consumption and impact investment in housing and home energy improvements. This is done by examining the interrelationship between energy retrofitting and installing microgeneration technologies alongside discussing meanings of home comfort and visions of ideal homes with householders. The study argues that an important aspect of home improvements is due to accommodating the 'needs' of the peak household. The paper concludes by discussing how a much wider range of people and interventions could be pursued to reduce domestic energy demand such as promoting downsizing or working with home or lifestyle companies.

Within geography there has been considerable debate about the reasons, patterns and consequences of human behaviour. Behavioural science, specifically Nudge, and practice theories are fashionable fields of enquiry, reflecting a long history of conversation between behavioural and poststructuralist approaches. The purpose of this paper is to foster further engagement with and between these perspectives, bringing to the fore the relevant ontologies from which they arise. The paper is thus largely concerned with the ‘ontological politics’ of approaches seeking to understand human action and concludes with some reflections on an agenda for geography, a discipline well placed to unite disparate concepts.