Investigating One-Time Actions for Domestic Energy Reduction: The Case of District Heating

Postphenomenological Dimensions of Digitally Mediated Domestic Heating

“…This mainly occurred because Watts revealed new opportunities for action (e.g., specific consumption problems) and magnified new ways of interpreting consumption. Similar findings have been identified in the HCI literature before, for example, by Froehlich et al [16] for behavioral change for electricity or by Kvist Svangren et al [37] for one-time investments in district heating. Unlike other studies, our study further indicates that for district heating, practice change can be achieved for some through mediation, given the right human-technology-world relationships.…”

“…Since Watts reduces these parts of the world, it is not possible for these householders to act sustainably even if they want to. Building literacy has similarly been identified in HCI studies as a foundation for many technologies meant to change practices, and empirical studies show the importance of literacy for reducing consumption, e.g., through knowing which devices that consume [33], or knowing how to renovate a house [37].…”

“…Different consumer sectors have been studied such as electricity (e.g., [8,10,33,34], transportation (e.g., [7,29,54]), water (e.g., [17,40]), and heat (e.g., [3,13,26,31,35,37,63]). In this body of literature, researchers have been especially interested in changing behavior in electricity use and central heating [19].…”

“…As sole examples, Hasselqvist et al [19] investigates potential designs by outlining requirements for interactive systems supporting one-time actions. Kvist Svangren et al [37] investigate one-time actions and argue that there is a need for more specific advice as each household is unique.…”