{"title":"Healthy, safe and comfortable: Emerging indoor air practices in Australian households","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2024.103760","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Health concerns regarding indoor air quality are leading to greater uptake of air purification technologies internationally, alongside the continuing normalisation of air conditioning. With thermal comfort largely considered separately from air quality, the energy sector risks inadequately preparing for the emergence of new indoor air practices and associated ‘needs’. Conceptually grounded in theories of social practice and design anthropological foresighting, this article explores how people's household air practices are changing, what kinds of air technologies they expect to be using in the near future (2025–2030), and how this might impact energy sector ambitions. The article draws on research from a four-year project with Australian households involving in-home virtual ethnography, and a design ethnography futures activity involving a ‘thing interview’ where participants designed and roleplayed their ideal future air technology and were interviewed by a researcher roleplaying the electricity grid. The analysis reveals that households increasingly expect healthy, safe and comfortable indoor environments, in which people seek to manage air flows through the home with air technologies. The futures analysis identifies the anticipated desire for air quality embedded within heating and cooling systems, an expectation for smart control, and some interest in incentives to modify air practices in order to optimise electricity system outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for energy demand, call for an expanded definition of thermal comfort that accounts for emerging air practices, and recommend further research on healthy, safe and comfortable air in indoor environments, pointing towards sites for intervention and innovation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624003517/pdfft?md5=ce7d79f53e45f32e21dfdeddd4f9501f&pid=1-s2.0-S2214629624003517-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Energy Research & Social Science","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624003517","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Health concerns regarding indoor air quality are leading to greater uptake of air purification technologies internationally, alongside the continuing normalisation of air conditioning. With thermal comfort largely considered separately from air quality, the energy sector risks inadequately preparing for the emergence of new indoor air practices and associated ‘needs’. Conceptually grounded in theories of social practice and design anthropological foresighting, this article explores how people's household air practices are changing, what kinds of air technologies they expect to be using in the near future (2025–2030), and how this might impact energy sector ambitions. The article draws on research from a four-year project with Australian households involving in-home virtual ethnography, and a design ethnography futures activity involving a ‘thing interview’ where participants designed and roleplayed their ideal future air technology and were interviewed by a researcher roleplaying the electricity grid. The analysis reveals that households increasingly expect healthy, safe and comfortable indoor environments, in which people seek to manage air flows through the home with air technologies. The futures analysis identifies the anticipated desire for air quality embedded within heating and cooling systems, an expectation for smart control, and some interest in incentives to modify air practices in order to optimise electricity system outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for energy demand, call for an expanded definition of thermal comfort that accounts for emerging air practices, and recommend further research on healthy, safe and comfortable air in indoor environments, pointing towards sites for intervention and innovation.
期刊介绍:
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers.
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.