| 1. |
- Dokter, Giliam, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Co-creation – a facilitator for circular economy implementation? A case study in the kitchen industry
- 2019
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Ingår i: PLATE Product Lifetimes And The Environment 2019 – Conference Proceedings. - 9783798331259
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although the concept of Circular Economy (CE) has gained significant attention in business and academia, knowledge and strategies on how to bring circularity into practice still remains limited. Most research efforts are theoretical and focus on waste handling, resource use and environmental impact. Only few studies focus on the practical implementation of CE. There is a lack of research on practical cases, where both the design process and involved stakeholders are considered. This paper reports on a case study carried out in collaboration with a Scandinavian kitchen manufacturer, to increase the understanding on how co-creation strategies can contribute to the implementation of circular economy in the kitchen industry. Based on three workshops followed by five interviews with workshop participants, insights have been gained regarding barriers and opportunities for implementation of circular economy in small manufacturing firms. Results indicate that the co-creation workshops have led to an increased understanding of CE and change of attitude towards CE among the participants.
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| 2. |
- Dokter, Giliam, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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The role of prototyping and co-creation in circular economy-oriented innovation: A longitudinal case study in the kitchen industry
- 2023
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Ingår i: Sustainable Production and Consumption. - 2352-5509. ; 39, s. 230-243
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To bridge the gap between the conceptualisation and implementation of circular value propositions, recent research efforts have focused on linking design-driven approaches with circular-oriented innovation. Such approaches can facilitate iterative processes that emphasise co-creation, prototyping, and real-life experimentation, ultimately promoting practical implementation. Still, there is a lack of understanding how companies go through the process of circular-oriented innovation, and how prototyping and co-creation support this process. This article presents a longitudinal case study of a four-year research project in which two academic teams, from Sweden and the Netherlands, collaborated with industrial partners to explore the potential of circular economy principles within the kitchen industry and develop a market-ready circular kitchen. The results indicate that prototyping plays a supportive role in the circular-oriented innovation process by making the concept of a circular economy tangible for stakeholders, facilitating knowledge exchange, and supporting overall developments towards collaborative circular supply chains. However, prototyping too early in the process linked to project deliverables carries a risk for ‘prototype fixation’, fragmented solutions, and missed opportunities for shared value creation. Co-creation was found particularly impactful during the early stages of circular-oriented innovation where it helped guide the project, enabled shared learning, built confidence and commitment amongst stakeholders, and supported the development of solutions tailored to demands of parties involved. The case study provides deeper insights on the role of prototyping and co-creation through diverse stages of the circular-oriented innovation process and extracts several lessons that might aid researchers and practitioners to navigate future circular-oriented innovation endeavours.
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| 3. |
- Hagejärd, Sofie, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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Designing for Circularity—Addressing Product Design, Consumption Practices and Resource Flows in Domestic Kitchens
- 2020
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 12:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Both the daily use and renewal of kitchens significantly contribute to the overall environmental impact of domestic buildings. To identify design implications related to circular consumption in domestic kitchens, 20 household interviews and one focus group session were performed, investigating how kitchens are used and transformed to meet households’ wants and needs. This study determined that daily kitchen resource use is greatly affected by kitchen design and that typical kitchen design generally does not promote sustainable resource use. Key factors that support minimization of resource use in the kitchen are the availability and planning of storage and workspaces. Furthermore, kitchens should be equipped with functions that enable households to use energy and water efficiently. Regarding kitchen renewal, various motivations that may initiate kitchen renovations can be summarised as follows: (1) Functional demands and changing needs, (2) aesthetic demands and changing trends, (3) obsolescence due to wear, and (4) linkage to another home renovation. This article concludes that a combination of design strategies is needed to reach a higher level of kitchen circularity. Moreover, these design strategies must be accompanied by circular business models and efforts to increase awareness of the environmental impact related to activities in and involving the kitchen.
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| 4. |
- Hagejärd, Sofie, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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“It's never telling me that I'm good!” Household experiences of testing a smart home energy management system with a personal threshold on energy use in Sweden
- 2023
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Ingår i: Energy Research and Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296. ; 98
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although smart technologies are widely promoted as enabling flexibility in households' energy demand, they often fail to achieve substantial impact. How smart technologies are actually used and to what extent they enable changes of energy-reliant practices in everyday life therefore needs to be better understood. This paper evaluates a smart home energy management system, Ero 2.0, which was tested by households in a multi-residential building in Sweden. To our knowledge, apart from its forerunner, Ero 2.0 is the first of its kind to include a personal threshold on energy use varying with the availability of preferred energy sources. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants, complemented by pre and post surveys, answered by 39 and 32 participants respectively. Overall, Ero 2.0 contributed to raised awareness regarding electricity and water use. To some extent, it also contributed to changes in practices, mainly through changed or reduced use of certain functions. However, it was less effective in enabling shifting practices in time. Difficulties to change practices were found to depend on: (1) lack of flexibility in everyday life, (2) limitations in size and layout of the dwelling, (3) lack of incentives and perceived impact, (4) lack of guidance and (5) lack of possibilities to control devices through the interface. The second point is an aspect that to date has received little attention in smart energy research. Design opportunities for future smart home energy management systems are discussed while acknowledging that such technologies cannot alone achieve the transition to more sustainable energy systems.
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| 5. |
- Hagejärd, Sofie, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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My apartment is cold! Household perceptions of indoor climate and demand-side management in Sweden
- 2021
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Ingår i: Energy Research and Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296. ; 73
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Space heating represents a major share of a households’ total energy consumption and related CO2 emissions. An approach often suggested to improve both the environmental and economic performance of the energy system is demand-side management. However, there has been little research into how households perceive load shifting in space heating. This paper evaluates the thermal perception among tenants in 33 multi-residential buildings connected to district heating in Sweden. Centrally controlled load shifts were applied in eight of these buildings during a two-week trial in early winter. The participants recorded their thermal sensation and thermal satisfaction in a diary, supplemented by opening and closing surveys. The results indicated that indoor temperatures at home were generally experienced as being low, especially in the morning. Control over heating was regarded as insufficient. No statistically significant difference in thermal sensation and satisfaction between days with and without load shifts was identified. However, after the trial, significantly fewer participants than before were willing to accept greater temperature variations to save energy. The study further highlights four factors that may influence the perception and acceptance of demand-side management in residential space heating: (1) set indoor climate conditions, (2) timing and magnitude of load shifts, (3) individual control and (4) communication.
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| 6. |
- Hagejärd, Sofie, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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Retrofitting from the Inside/Insight Perspective: Adapting to Users’ Needs with the Kitchen as a Starting Point
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Premature renovation of kitchen furniture and appliances lead to waste and unnecessary climate impact. One important driver to premature kitchen renovations is a lack of understanding of user needs among designers, developers and kitchen producers. This project aims at developing a future circular kitchen based on user insights studies combined with co-creation sessions involving different stakeholders in the supply chain of kitchen production, maintenance, use and recycling. Implication of user insights on liveability of dwellings for the broader sustainable retrofitting agenda is discussed.
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| 7. |
- Hagejärd, Sofie, 1991
(författare)
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Towards a circular home: Exploring opportunities for design to support households in sustainable resource use
- 2020
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Our use of natural resources has grown dramatically in recent years, with negative consequences for both the environment and human health. At home, resource use in the form of energy, water, food, and material objects may be related to a wide range of everyday practices as well as changes to, and adaptations of, our home environments. Thus, we as households play an important role in contributing to a less intensive use of resources. Even so, support is needed in the form of solutions that enable both reduced environmental impact and satisfaction with our homes. The research presented in this thesis aims to identify opportunities for more sustainable resource use at home. This has been addressed through the investigation of home-related resource use relating to households’ practices, lifestyles, and decisions concerning the home. The research has also explored design implications to support households in minimising their resource use and analysed households’ experiences of sustainability-orientated solutions for the home. Two field studies have been conducted. Study A investigated daily use and renewal of domestic kitchens and explored design implications to improve kitchens from a circular economy perspective. Qualitative data was collected in the form of interviews and a focus group, complemented by a diary or a short survey. Study B investigated perceptions and acceptance of demand-side management in residential space heating, to support an increased share of renewable energy. This study collected mainly quantitative data through a diary tool, complemented by surveys. The findings reveal that home-related resource use depends on a multitude of practices, preferences, choices, and contextual factors. In both studies, it seemed that dissatisfaction with the home environment may lead to additional resource use. For instance, kitchen renovations or practices to improve thermal comfort which either use energy or lead to energy being wasted. In the kitchen,design was found to play an important role, both in supporting sustainability in everyday kitchen practices and in allowing needs and preferences to be met over time, with little impact on the environment. Identified opportunities for increasing the circularity of kitchens were: improved technical and functional quality, timeless design, acknowledging emotional values, allowing aesthetical upgrades, allowing functional upgrades and repair, systemic changes and new business models, and increasing awareness of environmental impacts connected to kitchen renewal. Regarding demand-side management in space heating, perception and acceptance were found to depend on factors such as set indoor climate conditions, timing and magnitude of the load shifts, communication, and control. To conclude, this thesis contributes insights into home-related resource use from a household perspective and highlights opportunities for design to enable greater levels of circularity and renewable energy use at home.
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| 8. |
- Ollár, Anita, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Determining spatial characteristics for circular building design: The case of kitchen alterations
- 2022
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Ingår i: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. - : IOP Publishing. - 1755-1307 .- 1755-1315. ; 1085
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Kitchens are frequently altered leading to unnecessary material flows. End-users’ wishes to customise their kitchen based on their changing priorities have been recognised as one cause for frequent alterations. Complementing previous research investigating kitchen alterations, this paper focuses on the spatial characteristics of the room. Spatial characteristics have been identified as determining factors for developing circular solutions for kitchen design which could reduce the extent and impact of alterations. Eleven households in Swedish villas, apartments, and terrace houses have been interviewed about their kitchen alterations to answer the research questions: What spatial alterations do they implement? and How could the spatial design of kitchens be formulated to support a circular built environment?. The outcome of the alterations has been documented through floorplan drawings and photographs. Based on the findings exemplifying end-users’ alterations, circular design strategies are recommended for the spatial design of the kitchen. These strategies have the potential of slowing the loops by enabling end-users to reshape their kitchen without extensive alterations and decreasing resource use and waste production. In conclusion, this paper urges professionals in the kitchen industry to use the formulated circular design strategies to create a building stock that is part of a circular economy.
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| 9. |
- Renström, Sara, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Limit My Energy Use! An In-Situ Exploration of a Smart Home System Featuring an Adaptive Energy Threshold
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The ongoing increase of ‘smart’ home technologies could facilitate for households to shift energy demand to contribute to balancing increasingly fluctuating energy supply from renewable sources. Yet, although many smart home technologies support energy saving, few of the commercially available smart home systems actually facilitate demand shifting and instead highlight other features, such as home security or convenience. The study presented here aimed (i) designing a smart energy system that enables balancing energy demand and supply and (ii) exploring what happens when households are equipped with such a smart home system. In the system developed, called Ero, households’ energy use is related to the status of the energy system through a momentary power threshold and users can match their use of energy-reliant appliances to the threshold. Findings showed that a majority of the participants, in different ways, started to relate their energy use to the status of the energy system. Most of them appreciated the idea of having an energy threshold and some wanted stricter energy limitations. Yet, as the participants lived in small apartments and controlled a limited number of energy-reliant appliances only a few of them were able to make Ero an integrated part of everyday activities. Further, many of them questioned the extent to which their demand-shifting could contribute as their energy-reliant appliances were thought to not use much energy. Instead, the participants considered other paths towards a more sustainable energy system to be important, such as influencing decisions made by companies, politicians, and non-governmental organisations. The problem was however that Ero did not provide any support for how to influence beyond the individual household. To conclude, an energy focused smart home system can facilitate shifting energy demand and would be relevant for homes controlling bigger loads, such as electric vehicles or washing machines. Yet, such smart home systems cannot be considered a necessity in the quest for a more sustainable energy future.
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