Heating use in UK homes
Ashley Morton, Loughborough University
Within the UK, space heating accounts for 66% of the total domestic energy used. New heating controls may offer a means to reduce this figure and help meet the UK’s target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. However these technologies will only save energy if occupants are able to use them effectively. Currently, little is known about how occupants interact with their heating systems, in particular how it is they use the heating within their home and the reasons behind why they use it a specific way. To investigate this issue further, this thesis aims to identify and examine household space heating behaviours and develop heating behaviour categories based on collected data concerning how people heat their homes, what people use to heat their homes and the reasons why people heat their homes in that manner.
Aim and Research Questions
The aim of this doctoral research is to examine household space heating use and to identify the reasons behind heating use in UK homes.
The following research questions were addressed within this research:
- How do people currently heat their homes – what controls do they have and what do they use?
- What are the reasons behind occupants’ reported heating use?
- Can heating behaviours be categorised by understanding how occupants use their heating, why occupants heat their homes in a particular way and what occupants use to control their heating?
- How varied are household heating patterns regarding demand temperatures, heating period durations, household temperatures achieved and the household interaction level with heating controls?
- How does heating use in UK households evolve during seasonal shifts from autumn into winter and how does this compare with moving from winter into spring?
- Do many households keep the default settings after installation of new controls?
- Do new heating controls lead to a reported change in heating use for households?
- Is how occupants report using their heating different to measured heating use?
- How does the combination of qualitative and quantitative heating data add to the understanding of heating use?
Method
The doctoral research was designed into two different phases, Phase 1 and Phase 2, utilising both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Phase 1 of the research used primarily qualitative methods to develop an understanding of the variation of current heating use in homes, how people heat their homes and the reasons behind why they adopt certain heating behaviours. Phase 2 of the research used a multi-staged, mixed methods approach where quantitative methods were used to investigate what people did to heat their homes, how people interacted with new heating controls and how varied the heating behaviours were within the sample regarding set-point temperatures, heating durations and the heating schedules set. The qualitative methods used within the Phase 2 research investigated why people used their heating a particular way and whether any issues impacted their use of heating within their homes.
This doctoral research also investigated the benefit of combining both qualitative and quantitative research methods for investigating heating behaviour in homes.
The results identify key drivers which impact how people heat their homes and highlight numerous issues that prevent them from using the heating in the way that they wish to. The occupants’ use of their heating system, separating manual interactions with the controls from any programmed heating schedules was also identified. The differences in heating use between the shoulder month seasons, autumn and spring, and the winter months are also presented within the thesis for this doctoral research.
Project Team
Student(s)
Ashley Morton
Supervisor(s)
David Allinson
Victoria Haines
Outputs
Award/prize
Public Prize for best Research Poster at LoLo 2014 colloquium
Householders’space heating behaviour & influence of new controls – old habits die hard?
Conference poster
Summary poster of PhD project presented at the LoLo annual Colloquium 2014
Understanding the reasons behind occupants’ use of their home heating
Poster presented at the BeHave conference 3-4/9/14
Heating controls and influences on householders’ space heating behaviour – do old habits die hard?
Poster presented at UKERC Summer School held at Warwick University 6/7/14 – 11/7/14
Heating controls and influences on householders’ space heating behaviour – do old habits die hard?
Poster presented at LoLo CDT Stakeholder meeting at Loughborough University – 2nd April 2014
Heating controls and influences on householders’ space heating behaviour – do old habits die hard?
Poster for LoLo Annual Colloquium 2013
Presentation
Heating controls and influences on householders’ space heating behaviour – do old habits die hard?