Three years later… What are the habits and routines of our ENERGISE-households?
Already three years ago, two challenges were introduced to a certain group of households in Maastricht and in Roermond (the ENERGISE-households*): to reduce indoor temperature to a maximum of 18 °C (‘heating challenge’) and half the number of weekly laundry cycles relative to a baseline (‘laundry challenge’). Their implementation took place in late 2018, with the study continuing in 2019 with a follow-up survey three months after the end of the challenge period. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected before, during, and after the challenges. We analysed how ‘doing laundry’ and ‘keeping warm’, as very different types of practices, responded to the change initiative. For example, warming people rather than spaces through added layers and activities, and related shifts in norms around thermal comfort, emerged as crucial steps towards lowering indoor temperatures. Average changes in reported temperatures indicated that reductions are possible, without an emphasis on individuals or technologies as central to change.
Is this still the case, three years after? And can we determine if and to what extend these behaviors have been conditioned by a dual shock from the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and the rise of gas prices? In order to answer these questions we will analyse the same households with a follow-up survey administered three years after the end of the challenges. This introduces an element of comparison over time in which participants are able to reflect on changes in their everyday lives, from before the challenges to three years after. Learning about how and in what way changes took place will be emphasized, rather than goal achievement.
* ENERGISE is the first large-scale European effort aimed at reducing energy use among households through a change initiative that adopted a ‘Living Lab’ approach informed by social practice theory.
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