Abstract
ABSTRACTThough central heating controls have the potential to reduce the energy consumed through domestic space heating, their installation does not guarantee savings. End users do not always understand their controls, or operate them in an energy-efficient way, but there is little appreciation of why this is. Drawing on an ethnographic study, this paper investigates how installers select and explain central heating controls. With reference to the concept of technology scripting, which suggests that the assumptions made about users during the design of devices can influence their eventual use, it shows how heating installers also draw on certain user scripts. Through these means the paper illuminates the significant role that heating installers play in influencing the control products fitted into homes, and how they might be used. Though their use of these scripts is understandable, it is not always conducive to ensuring that central heating systems are operated in the most energy-efficient way. It is suggested that industry and policy-makers might engage with how installers understand users and revise current guidelines to foster better communication between them.
Highlights
The European Union (EU) has set a long-term goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80–95% when compared with 1990 levels by 2050 (EC, 2011)
The following empirical material investigates the characterizations of end users that heating installers use in order to make decisions about the room thermostats and programmers that are installed as controls for the central heating system
During this fieldwork, heating installers often talked about end users in general terms
Summary
The European Union (EU) has set a long-term goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80–95% when compared with 1990 levels by 2050 (EC, 2011). Though meeting these ambitious targets will require effort across a range of sectors, influencing how people live with the existing building stock must be an important part of this. This is especially true because buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of the energy consumed in the EU, with space heating being significant (EC, 2012).
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