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Negotiating comfort in low energy housing: The politics of intermediation

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  • Grandclément, Catherine
  • Karvonen, Andrew
  • Guy, Simon

Abstract

Optimising the energy performance of buildings is technically and economically challenging but it also has significant social implications. Maintaining comfortable indoor conditions while reducing energy consumption involves careful design, construction, and management of the built environment and its inhabitants. In this paper, we present findings from the study of a new low energy building for older people in Grenoble, France where conflicts emerged over the simultaneous pursuit of energy efficiency and comfort. The findings contribute to the contemporary literature on the sociotechnical study of buildings and energy use by focusing on intermediation, those activities that associate a technology to end users. Intermediation activities take many forms, and in some cases, can result in the harmonisation or alignment of energy efficiency goals and comfort goals. In other cases, intermediation is unsuccessful, leading to the conventional dichotomy between optimising technical performance and meeting occupant preferences. By highlighting the multiple ways that comfort and energy efficiency is negotiated, we conclude that buildings are provisional achievements that are constantly being intermediated. This suggests that building energy efficiency policies and programmes need to provide opportunities for intermediaries to negotiate the desires and preferences of the multiple stakeholders that are implicated in low energy buildings.

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  • Grandclément, Catherine & Karvonen, Andrew & Guy, Simon, 2015. "Negotiating comfort in low energy housing: The politics of intermediation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 213-222.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:84:y:2015:i:c:p:213-222
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2014.11.034
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. James Stewart & Sampsa Hyysalo, 2008. "Intermediaries, Users And Social Learning In Technological Innovation," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(03), pages 295-325.
    2. Menezes, Anna Carolina & Cripps, Andrew & Bouchlaghem, Dino & Buswell, Richard, 2012. "Predicted vs. actual energy performance of non-domestic buildings: Using post-occupancy evaluation data to reduce the performance gap," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 355-364.
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    1. Kivimaa, Paula & Boon, Wouter & Hyysalo, Sampsa & Klerkx, Laurens, 2019. "Towards a typology of intermediaries in sustainability transitions: A systematic review and a research agenda," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 1062-1075.
    2. Day, Rosie, 2015. "Low carbon thermal technologies in an ageing society – What are the issues?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 250-256.
    3. Paula Kivimaa & Wouter Boon & Sampsa Hyysalo & Laurens Klerkx, 2017. "Towards a Typology of Intermediaries in Transitions: a Systematic Review," SPRU Working Paper Series 2017-17, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    4. Magnani, Natalia & Carrosio, Giovanni & Osti, Giorgio, 2020. "Energy retrofitting of urban buildings: A socio-spatial analysis of three mid-sized Italian cities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Rajat Gupta & Sahar Zahiri & Johanna Morey, 2023. "Enhancing User Engagement in Local Energy Initiatives Using Smart Local Energy Engagement Tools: A Meta Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-25, March.
    6. Catherine Willan & Kathryn B. Janda & David Kenington, 2021. "Seeking the Pressure Points: Catalysing Low Carbon Changes from the Middle-Out in Offices and Schools," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-21, December.
    7. Moeller, Simon & Bauer, Amelie, 2022. "Energy (in)efficient comfort practices: How building retrofits influence energy behaviours in multi-apartment buildings," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

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