Categorising heating behaviour user types

There have only been a handful of studies which have attempted to categorise user types in relation to heating use within homes. Research within the Netherlands reported five categories of behavioural patterns in relation to home temperatures

79 and ventilation: conservers, spenders, cool, warm and average. These behavioural patterns were based on a total of 17 self-reported energy-related behaviours such as thermostat settings and occupancy (Raaij and Verhallen, 1983b). More recent work, still within the Netherlands identifies similar behavioural patterns relating to heating use behaviours. These are identified as: spenders, affluent-cool, conscious-warm, comfort and convenience-cool. The behavioural patterns are then matched with four identified user profiles: family, seniors, singles and low-income couples (Guerra-Santin, 2011). However, similar to the Raaij and Verhallen the findings were based upon survey data and therefore self-reported behaviours, with Guerra-Santin (2011) not taking the reported thermostat setting into account within the analysis due to the lack of variation across the sample. These studies however based the user types/profiles on behaviours themselves i.e. actions relating directly to heating use but did not account for the causes and influences behind these actions. Paauw et al (2009) identified four groups of potential drivers for energy consumption and/or conservation which they named: convenience/ease, conscious, costs and climate/environment from household interviews, which were then

applied to different groups of household type, which neglected potential cross-overs between similar drivers within different household types.

Within the UK the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published work as part of a smarter heating controls research program, aimed at uncovering whether improved heating controls reduces energy consumption, understanding how to utilise new technologies whilst understanding the socio-technical role of heating (DECC, 2013d). As part of the research programme outputs, a report on

“What people want from their heating controls” was published and reports a

classification of heating behaviours within a UK sample (Rubens and Knowles, 2013).

These behaviour categories are summarised in Table 2.6. This is the first work

where different heating behaviours have attempted to be categorised within the UK, however the behaviour types are quite broad and the method of categorising the sample used in the study is quite vague. To identify the heating behaviours, a sliding scale method was used which included: comfort versus spend, one zone

80 versus multiple zones, regular versus irregular routines, predictable versus

unpredictable routines and self-versus others. The difference between

regular/irregular routines and predictable/unpredictable routines was not made clear. The sample consisted of 43 households split between Manchester and London which both have very different external climates, dwelling types and cultural diversity. Yet there is no mention as to how the behaviour categories were split across the locations, i.e. were all ego-centric households in London or a mix etc.

Out of all categories, only one was linked to household characteristics with reactors being categorised as those typically in larger, less energy efficient family homes often where the children have since moved out. Similarly to the works of Raaij and Verhallen (1983b) and Guerra-Santin (2011), this research focused on the

behaviours themselves and neglected to take into consideration the influences behind these behaviours.

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Table 2.6 Heating behaviour categories as reported by DECC (Rubens and Knowles, 2013)

Behaviour Type Summary of heating behaviour Rationers Occupants who want to save money therefore

keep their heating use to a minimum and are more likely to control their heating manually

for that reason.

Ego-centric These occupants use their heating in relation to their own comfort regardless of how others

may feel and similarly to rationers most likely to control the heating manually.

Hands-off Occupants who would rather not interact with their heating system or change regularly yet

still desire their home to be warm with the option to demand different temperatures if

they had to.

Planners Occupants who think in advance about their heating needs and tried to avoid use when not

needed. More likely to change their heating through the timer or thermostatic radiator

valves.

Reactors Occupants who ‘react’ to variations in internal and external temperatures either through changing settings on their heating controls or

through use of secondary heating.

One of the objectives of this doctoral research, as mentioned in Chapter 1, was to develop a taxonomy of heating behaviour types. Although this is no longer a novel idea, the author still believes that a more detailed approach focusing on the drivers behind heating behaviours could help show that it may be far more complex than suggested with just five heating behaviour types. Therefore a taxonomy developed within this doctoral research could be seen as novel for identifying heating user types based on the drivers and/or reasons why households adopt specific heating behaviours.

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2.5. Conclusions

This literature review has shown the energy research field, in particular relating to domestic energy has been focused on technical advancements and

techno-economic energy saving potential studies. There has been acknowledgement of the need for more socio-technical studies, however few studies have combined both social and technical aspects, and therefore those which report occupant behaviour in homes tend to be more from the social science discipline. There is currently a lack of interdisciplinary research regarding heating use within UK homes. This literature review has identified there is a lack of information available on heating control use within UK homes and in particular the drivers for heating use and the level of interaction from occupants.

With the volume of factors influencing energy use and temperatures seen within homes, there were very few studies found during this literature search which have managed to characterise individual household heating practices. However it should be noted that this is a very active area of research and that this may change very soon as household heating has been identified as one of the main areas which could help reduce energy use within the residential sector, so in order to save energy through recommendations or actions, it is vital to understand the current heating practices of householders.

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Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter reaffirms the aim of this thesis and explains the considerations taken to shape the research in order to achieve the research aims. The chapter

introduces the methodological approaches taken and explains the background to the philosophical and theoretical stance to the research.

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