Coping with extremes, creating comfort: user experiences of ‘low-energy’ homes in Australia.

SHERRIFF, Graeme, MOORE, Trivess, BERRY, Stephen, AMBROSE, Aimee, GOODCHILD, Barry and MAYE-BANBURY, Angela (2019). Coping with extremes, creating comfort: user experiences of ‘low-energy’ homes in Australia. Energy Research and Social Science, 51, 44-54.

[img]
Preview
PDF
Ambrose-CopingWithExtremes(AM).pdf - Accepted Version
All rights reserved.

Download (832kB) | Preview
Official URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/...
Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.12.008

Abstract

Low- and zero-energy homes are core elements in transitioning the housing stock towards a more environmentally sustainable model that responds to concerns about climate change and the need for energy demand reduction. Whilst there is a growing body of work on the technical performance of these homes, less attention has been paid to the experiences of users, particularly in cooling-dominated climates. Drawing on interviews that utilise an oral history approach with householders in Lochiel Park Green Village in South Australia, this research situates experiences and energy practices within individual housing histories in order to better understand the relationship between the occupant, the building and the resultant energy use. Within the context of debates around adaptive comfort practices this innovative method reveals that, despite the expectations of some residents, moving to a ‘low-energy’ home has reduced rather than eliminated their active involvement in maintaining a thermally comfortable environment.

Item Type: Article
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.12.008
Page Range: 44-54
SWORD Depositor: Symplectic Elements
Depositing User: Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited: 05 Feb 2019 15:43
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2021 02:51
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/23746

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics