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Paper short abstract:

This paper presents results from qualitative experiments in a zero emission house in Trondheim. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from six groups living in the house for 25 days each. We investigate how two different perspectives on material agency can generate diverging findings.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents results from experiments conducted in the Trondheim Living Lab, which explores the relation between radical technological change, domestic practices and energy use.

The Trondheim Living Lab is a newly built, 100m2, detached single family home that is planned to reach a zero emission balance over the course of its lifetime. The qualitative experiments, conducted in the laboratory between October 2015 and April 2016 involves six groups of residents, each living in the house for 25 days. Two and two groups were similar: two student groups, two families with two young children, and two groups with couples around 60 years old. The empirical material consists of interviews before, during and after the resident period, direct observation, diary records, photography and self-filming, as well as detailed records of energy consumption and indoor climate.

The Trondheim Living Lab offers a unique opportunity to understand how moving between homes with different energy ambitions affects energy use, energy related skills and energy understandings by experimental means. In this paper we investigate how two different perspectives on material agency in human-material interactions can generate diverging but findings in terms of understanding how a high-tech 'automated' home can be perceived by its inhabitants. The two theoretical approaches are practice theory (Shove et al 2012) focussing on how materials, meanings and competencies together influence energy use, and social psychological perspectives on the social significance of objects for human experiences of living conditions (Persson, 2007).