Thermostat wars? The roles of gender and thermal comfort negotiations in household energy use behavior.

Nicole D Sintov,Lee V White,Hugh Walpole,Yueming Qiu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0224198

Abstract

Although advanced thermostat technologies offer energy efficiency potential, these devices alone do not guarantee savings. Household occupants often deviate from thermostat programs, perhaps due to differing thermal comfort preferences, which are strong drivers of residential energy use and vary across genders. This study aims to develop an initial typology of interpersonal interactions around thermal comfort, explore the role of gender in such interactions, and examine the impacts of interactions on thermostat adjustments. Using n = 1568 diary observations collected from 112 participants, we identify three interaction types: conflicts, compromises, and agreements. Fixed effects analyses find that women are marginally more likely to report engaging in conflicts, whereas men are significantly more likely to report engaging in agreements and compromises, both of which are associated with greater likelihood of adjusting thermostats within a given day. This work represents an early step in investigating the multiply determined nature of household energy decisions.

Highlights

Heating and cooling combined comprised 32% of U.S residential energy consumption in 2015 [1], while available data from 2010 place that share around 41% worldwide [2]
Heating and cooling consume a large share of residential energy use worldwide [2], and smart and programmable thermostats have potential for home energy savings [4] [5]
People often do not use these devices in ways that fully exploit their energy efficiency potential [6,7]

Summary

Introduction

Heating and cooling combined comprised 32% of U.S residential energy consumption in 2015 [1], while available data from 2010 place that share around 41% worldwide [2]. Targeting residential thermal management systems and behaviors offers considerable potential for reducing home energy use. To this end, advances in programmable and smart thermostat technologies offer both convenience as well as potential energy efficiency gains [3]. People do not always follow the programs that they set on such devices, if they set such programs in the first place [6,7] This can lead to households with programmable thermostats (i.e., those that can be set to automatically adjust the temperature at particular times of day) or smart thermostats (internet enabled thermostats that can be adjusted using a smart phone or other internet-enabled device, and/or that can “learn” occupant preferences) not exploiting the full efficiency potential of these technologies [6,8,9,10].

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Conclusion