Understanding the dynamics of residential energy consumption in the UK: mapping occupants thermal discomfort responses

Attempts to reduce the energy consumed in UK homes have had limited success. One reason for this has been identified as the ‘rebound effect’, where the occupants’ responses to their thermal environment change in unexpected ways after interventions. Although much of the research on heating patterns in dwellings has focused on achieving thermal comfort, less is understood about the way occupants form their responses. Using empirical methods drawn from social and cognitive sciences, this paper proposes a set of tools, implemented in a pilot study, carried out on a small sample of UK households during winter of 2010. One of the tools used, the SenseCam facilitates an electronic diary collection by logging occupants’ responses in a systematic approach. Preliminary monitoring works show that different householders are interacting with their home thermal comfort systems in very different ways, and that their responses diverge from the current predictive models. These results suggest that future samples may be examined to gain further insights about the development of ideas in this field