| 11. |
- Mangold, Mikael, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Who benefits? Effects and perceptions of residential volumetric water billing
- 2012
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Ingår i: 2nd Nordic Conference on Consumer Research, 29 May-1 June, 2012, Göteborg.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- What are the effects and perceptions of increased installation of water metering and volumetric billing in residential areas in Sweden? An interview study was undertaken in a low-income suburb of Göteborg to explore residents’ experiences and opinions. Additionally, the interests of water and energy companies, social affairs committee, real estate owner and maintainer were investigated to contrast the added value of reduced water consumption. Stakeholders either benefit or are disadvantaged by the introduced system. Furthermore, the applied tariff structure fails to motivate all segments of the population to reduce water consumption, yet still inequitably burdens the most financially exposed groups.
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| 12. |
- Nilsson, Karin, 1997, et al.
(författare)
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Making dinner in an uncomfortable future: Comparing provocations as user insight elicitation methods
- 2022
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Ingår i: DRS2022: Bilbao. - : Design Research Society. - 2398-3132. - 9781912294572
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- To aid the transition to a renewable energy future, user-centred designers need to design for a future with limits perceived as uncomfortable to users. This paper explores whether methods borrowed from critical and speculative design can elicit actionable insights to aid such designers. A comparative analysis is performed of the insights gained from two studies, using a provotype and speculative enactment respectively to situate the participants in a speculative, uncomfortable, distant future. The two methods do allow elicitation of rich and deep insights surrounding values, latent needs, and tacit knowledge, but with slightly different emphasis regarding content, temporal scope, and reflective depth. However, the implementation of the methods failed to provoke the participants to question their prioritisations and views on societal development, maybe related to an inability to provoke enough.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Renström, Sara, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Design for alternative ways of doing – explorations in the context of thermal comfort
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Design Research. - 1569-1551 .- 1748-3050. ; 15:3-4, s. 153-173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. To address seemingly non-negotiable resource-reliant behaviours where feedback is ineffective, we explored the possibility of enabling alternative ways of doing through design solutions and investigated how people engage with them. Focusing on residents’ need for thermal comfort, a technology probe with alternative tools for staying warm was assembled. How people engaged with these tools was then evaluated in-situ with 18 households. In follow-up interviews, most of the participants who used the tools with some regularity reported that they had increased their awareness, developed new heating strategies and/or carried out some kind of action concerning the heating system. The findings suggest that offering new ways of interacting with a system, such as a heating system, can lead to people changing the ways in which they fulfil everyday needs.
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| 15. |
- Renström, Sara, 1984
(författare)
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Inviting Interaction – Explorations of the district heating interface for people
- 2016
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- District heating provides more than half of the homes in Sweden with heating and hot water and have the potential to play an increasingly important role in the development towards fossil-free energy systems – yet it is rather unknown by the public. To understand why this is the case and to influence the situation, this research aims at exploring the district heating interface for people.In the first part of this research, I explored the interaction space of people and district heating in two research studies: (1) a diary study focusing on the role district heating plays in everyday pursuit of thermal comfort and (2) an interview study focusing on people’s ways of making sense and making use of district heating. The findings seem to suggest that district heating provides basic heating in a uniform manner, but that additional means often are used to achieve thermal comfort. The use of additional means, in combination with infrequent interaction with the heating system due to lack of (perceived) control over the heating, seems to obscure services available with district heating. Especially in apartments, people have been excluded from the district heating system in the sense that they do neither get any output (in the form of e.g. information or feedback) besides the district heating services, nor are they able to give much input (in the form of e.g. control) to the system. One reason for this is that heating costs generally are included in the rent.In the second part of this research, I integrated the findings from the first part into three possible directions to suggest how to redesign the district heating interface for people. The first direction represents making use of district heating in more ways than what is currently available. The second direction concerns enabling residents to be informed of the status and in control over the processes in the building’s central heating system as well as in the district heating system. The third direction is about designing means for thermal comfort and pleasurable thermal experiences through indirect use of district heating.Prior to this work, attempts of raising awareness about district heating have addressed people in their role as citizens through information about the beneficial characteristics of district heating. Instead I have tried a different path. The three design directions address people in their role as residents, occupants, and users by focusing on the services offered by district heating. Findings from an exploratory field study with prototypes based on the third direction seem to suggest that district heating services can be utilised to invite people to take a more conscious role with regard to their building’s heating system. Yet, for that consciousness to reach beyond the building’s heating system to the district heating system, the connection between the two systems must be very clear. The district heating interface for people could in this way be redesigned to invite interaction.
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| 16. |
- Renström, Sara, 1984
(författare)
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Participating in Energy Systems through Everyday Designs – Exploring roles for households in a more sustainable energy future
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As households we participate in energy systems when, in the course of our everyday energy-reliant activities, we create a demand for energy and when we engage in energy-managing activities such as choosing an energy provider and deciding to support a specific source of energy. In this way, everyday life has an impact on the energy sector, and vice versa. To mitigate climate change, the energy sector will have to reduce its negative environmental impact, and everyday life will have to change with it. This thesis aims at contributing to development of artefacts that, as they are embedded into energy-reliant and energy-managing activities in everyday life, support such changes. Four empirical studies were carried out in a research through design process with a ‘mixed methods’ approach. Two studies described which energy-reliant and energy-managing activities to design for by identifying what roles households could play in energy systems (RQ 1a). Two studies explored how artefacts shape those roles (RQ 1a) and prescribed ways to design to support reduced negative environmental impact (RQ 2). The findings showed that the roles households considered playing in energy systems were framed by (i) roles performed by peers, (ii) available and accessible energy-reliant and energy-managing artefacts, (iii) existing business models, (iv) available infrastructure, and (v) policy and regulation. The roles were framed into three so-called meta-roles named Reception, Interplay, and Balance. Within Reception , households receive standardised amounts and variants of services from the energy system, such as a pre-set indoor temperature. Within Interplay , the households’ meta-role is to use some kind of interplay with the energy system to optimise energy services for their individual preferences, for example low cost. Finally, within Balance , the households’ meta-role is to balance their individual preferences with what is preferable from an energy system perspective, for instance without benefits to be part of time-shifting energy use to cut peaks in demand. In Reception and Interplay, the reduction in environmental impact is restricted to either what can be achieved without households’ active contribution or when reductions in environmental impact align with personal preferences, respectively. Balance, although uncommon and therefore unvalidated, was therefore considered most promising to mitigate climate change. Evaluations of two prototypes intended to support reduced negative energy-related environmental impact showed such possibilities, and additionally that Reception and Interplay could be challenged by designing artefacts that: - encourage households to make compromises and ask for efforts; - make the connection between energy supply and demand explicit (reconnecting supply and demand); - provide a possibility to feel like active participants (instead of discouraging active participation through automation); - provide a possibility for influencing energy-related decisions made by energy companies or (local) authorities; and - focus on energy-reliant activities and not (only) on energy-managing activities. Artefacts are however just one of the five aspects found to frame meta-roles. In order to not only challenge but also change a prevailing meta-role, the other aspects would need to align.
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| 17. |
- Renström, Sara, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Pathways of Sustainable Behaviours
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the ERSCP-EMSU 2013 conference, 16th Conference of the European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ERSCP) & 7th Conference of the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU), 4 – 7 June 2013, Istanbul, Turkey.. ; , s. 1-18
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this paper is to chart different paths that users can follow to reduce the environmental impact that occurs during the use of an artefact. Through comparingsustainable behaviours found in own studies and literature, five pathways of sustainable behaviour were identified: Changed use, Mediated use, Regulated artefact, Maintenance and repair, and Choice of artefact. In Path 1 the user starts using an artefact in a more sustainable way. In Path 2 the user invests in a secondary artefact to mediate the use of a primary artefact. In Path 3 the users invest in anartefact that regulate a primary artefacts’ resource use. In Path 4 the user maintains an artefact in good condition and in Path 5 the user invests in an artefact that offersless resource consumption by default.
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| 18. |
- Renström, Sara, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Pleasurable Ways of Staying Warm – A Pathway towards Reduced Energy Consumption
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings from the IASDR Conference 2013, Consilience and Innovation in Design, 24-30 August 2013, Tokyo, s. 1783-1794. ; , s. 1783-1794
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hedonic consequences of pro-environmental behaviour can constitute an important barrier to behaviour change. Subsequently, hedonic aspects of heating and hot water use must be understood to be able to consider possible hedonic consequences when promoting less energy demanding ways of staying warm. Two user studies were performed aimed at exploring what types of hedonic pleasures that are elicited through use of hot water and heating systems, additional heating artefacts, and in different types of thermal situations. It was found that physical and emotional pleasures are present in everyday use of heating and hot water systems and in use of additional heating artefacts. With the identified hedonic experiences as a basis, there is an opportunity to design new heating artefacts that are pleasurable to use in a pro-environmental manner.
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| 19. |
- Renström, Sara, 1984
(författare)
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Supporting diverse roles for people in smart energy systems
- 2019
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Ingår i: Energy Research and Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296. ; 53, s. 98-109
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- More prominent roles for households are often suggested in visions of smart energy systems. To this point, most research and design efforts are aimed at householders who are interested in energy and/or want or play an active role in smart energy systems. Therefore, the study presented in this paper aims to identify other roles for people and examines ways to support those roles. In generative group sessions, sixteen participants envisioned future living in smart energy systems. The findings show that the participants discussed diverse roles, with some wishing to be guided, while others wanted to think for themselves, for instance. Support, in the shape of products, services, and systems, was found to be able to serve three purposes; give information, enable control, and change the preconditions for energy use. When designing support, diversity could be embraced by looking beyond energy use to include ways to enable using less resources in everyday activities. These findings contribute to nuancing the roles people could play in smart energy systems and propose implications for design of smart energy technologies.
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| 20. |
- Renström, Sara, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Target the Use Phase! Design for Sustainable Behaviour.
- 2013
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Ingår i: The 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Management in Gothenburg 2013. ; , s. 1-4
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- One approach to further decrease the environmental impact of products is to target the use phase. According to the Design for Sustainable Behaviour approach different design strategies can be used to enable a more sustainable use of products by influencing the user’s behaviour. The strategies suggested include matching products to users’ current behaviours, enlightening users, spurring or steering theusers towards more sustainable behaviours, and applying a force dimension to the products. Empirical studies demonstrate the feasibility of different strategies.However further knowledge is needed on which strategies to apply in which situations and for what problems.
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