Retrofitting social housing : reflections by tenants on adopting and living with retrofit technology

Brown, P; Swan, W; Chahal, S

Abstract

Retrofit has been described as one of the major engineering challenges of the twenty-first century (Kelly 2009). However, the industry needs to look beyond regarding the problem as restricted to the physical upgrade of properties. Asset managers, engineers and installers work on and in people’s homes and, in many cases, are subsequently changing the way householders use their homes to meet their comfort and wider energy needs. Here we consider how the twin issues of adopting and living with retrofit technologies have affected groups of residents in social housing. We discuss issues of trust, social norms, engagement and concern that have shaped the adoption process, as well as investigating the everyday experience of living with new configurations of energy consumption. The findings have relevance not only for the social housing sector but also raise questions as to how to effectively deliver programmes such as the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation within the UK.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 17, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Jan 10, 2014
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jun 10, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Energy Efficiency
• Print ISSN: 1570-646X
• Electronic ISSN: 1570-6478
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 641-653
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-013-9245-3
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12053-013-9245-3
• Related Public URLs: http://link.springer.com/journal/12053
• Additional Information: Access Information : Erratum to: Energy Efficiency (2014) 7:641–653 DOI 10.1007/s12053-013-9245-3 The published online paper unfortunately contained an error. The authors would like to add an acknowledgement to the support from EPSRC. This paper was prepared as part of Grant No. EP/I030832/1, Tackling Fuel Poverty: Bridging the divide for low income and vulnerable communities. The research materials supporting this publication can be accessed by contacting Prof. Philip Brown ([e-mail]).; Funders : Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)