Toke Haunstrup Christensen

Energy impacts of ICT - Insights from an everyday life perspective

The environmental implications of information and communication technology (ICT) have been the subject of study since the early 1990s. Although previous research covers energy issues quite extensively, the treatment of the energy impacts of ICT integration in everyday life is still inadequate. The purpose of this paper is to complement the existing research by applying a perspective from which everyday life takes centre stage. A theoretical framework for describing and analysing the energy impacts of everyday life is outlined, based on a combination of practice theory and time geography. The framework is applied to a discussion of how ICT co-develops with changing everyday practices and energy-demanding features of everyday life. Based on empirical findings, it is explored how the use of ICT affects practices in relation to time and space, and it is argued that the changes may increase energy consumption considerably. The findings do not suggest that the integration of ICT in everyday practices inherently results in a more energy-intensive everyday life. ICTs have a great potential for reducing energy consumption, but the realisation of this depends on the wider economic and political conditions.

A practice–theory approach to homeowners' energy retrofits in four European areas

This article examines whether and how energy retrofitting of owner-occupied dwellings can be understood within the framework of social practice theories. Practice theories help to shift the focus towards more collective approaches and practices, rather than towards individuals. In addressing this question, energy retrofits are described and their variability compared in four European areas: Denmark, Latvia, the Coimbra area in Portugal and Wallonia in Belgium. Although these areas have different geographical, cultural and housing contexts, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) provides a common form of regulation. As a policy, its main underlying intention is to promote the opportunities for energy retrofitting. Based on an analysis of 60 in-depth interviews with homeowners, it is found that energy retrofitting is not an integrative practice in 2010, despite the EPBD and other efforts to enforce such a practice. This lack of a retrofitting practice exists for a variety of reasons: it is not sustained by common and conventionalized routines, and by shared know-how and goals among relevant actors (e.g. homeowners and craftsmen). Based on practice theories, novel policy recommendations are provided to help to constitute an energy-related renovation practice in detached owner-occupied houses.

Energy retrofits of Danish homes: is the Energy Performance Certificate useful?

Energy retrofitting of the existing dwelling stock represents one of the major challenges for the transition to a low carbon society, as about 19% of the final energy consumption in the European Union relates to heating of dwellings. Danish homeowners’ experiences with the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) are examined, as it was introduced in 1997 (prior to a similar scheme introduced later in the European Union). The main research question is whether the EPC has an influence on Danish homeowners’ energy retrofit practices. Homeowners’ understanding of and trust in the EPC are analyzed, based on an online survey of homeowners (N = 743) living in a home with a recently issued EPC. Results indicate that the EPC has a limited influence on homeowners’ energy retrofit practices. Despite most homeowners finding the EPC reliable and easy to understand, relatively few find it useful as a source of information for home retrofits. In its current form, the EPC is insufficient to encourage homeowners to undertake energy retrofits of their home. Improvements to address this problem in the administration, scope and layout of the EPC are suggested.

Carbon calculators as a tool for a low-carbon everyday life?

Abstract The number of Internet-based carbon calculators that estimate personal carbon footprints has been growing in recent years. This article discusses the roles that these calculators can play in changing everyday practices and how users evaluate them. The study builds on results from a questionnaire survey and focus groups with users of a Danish Internet-based carbon calculator developed in 2009, the year of the Climate Summit in Copenhagen, when climate change was prominent on the political agenda. The article concludes that the subject website primarily attracts people already interested in the issue, and that its main contribution is to confirm their engagement. Furthermore, we show, on one hand, that users seem to accept the individualized approach of the carbon calculator while, on the other hand, they question the allocation of responsibility for mitigating climate change. The article suggests designing Internet-based carbon calculators that actively engage users in collective actions instead of primarily presenting individualistic interventions. Finally, we show that users are different with respect to which of their everyday practices they feel able or inclined to change, with air travel being the practice that, by far, they are least willing to alter.