Work

Practice reconfigurations around heat pumps in and beyond Dutch households

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: • The implementation of heat pumps, as part of sustainability transitions, requires the reconfiguration of everyday practices in the household. • We take a design-oriented approach and contribute to a view of households as creative actors in transitions. In this view, reconfigurations of practices are innovations-in-waiting. • Ethnographic research in 11 households in the Netherlands with heat pumps. • We find that the integration of heat pumps in everyday practices in the Netherlands requires reconfigurations of understandings, material reconfigurations, and reconfigurations of routines. • There is further potential for innovative practice reconfigurations emerging from households to contribute to sustainability transitions. Domestic heating systems need to change to meet climate targets. We draw on practice theoretical concepts to understand what is needed to integrate heat pumps in Dutch households. From a design orientation, we view households as creative actors integrating technologies into daily life. We report on an ethnographic study of the disruptions and resulting reconfigurations that occur when heat pumps are introduced in Dutch households. Our findings reveal a variety of practice reconfigurations around heat pumps. We also find that these reconfigurations are related to and may influence other practices, including professional practices. We discuss our findings in relation to policy, technology development, and design, and conclude that the required reconfigurations in Dutch household practices could be supported, and that innovative practice reconfigurations emerging from internal household dynamics could contribute to sustainability transitions.

Source: Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions

DOI: 10.1016/j.eist.2024.100903

Authors: Evert van Beek, Stella Boess, Alessandro Bozzon, Elisa Giaccardi

Institutions: Delft University of Technology, Politecnico di Milano

Language: English

Topic: Sustainability and Climate Change Governance

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Affordable and clean energy, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,410