‘It’s nice to have a bit of fresh air’: Interpretative flexibility and air quality regimes in active homes

Hale, Rachel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4248-0391, Henwood, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4631-5468, Shirani, Fiona, O'Sullivan, Kate and Pidgeon, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8991-0398 2024. ‘It’s nice to have a bit of fresh air’: Interpretative flexibility and air quality regimes in active homes. Energy and Buildings

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Abstract

Decarbonization of the energy and building sectors is developing as part of efforts to meet UK governments’ net zero greenhouse gas emissions targets. Diverse UK housing providers and housing professionals are becoming involved in providing low and zero carbon homes, including Active Homes (which not only consume, but can also produce, store, and distribute electricity). Drawing on qualitative interview data from residents and housing professionals at three Active Home sites, we use the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) concept of interpretative flexibility to consider how they interpret Active Home technological systems, and the consequences for home air regimes. We reveal that some housing professionals promote normative assumptions about the ‘correct’ interpretation of sustainable technologies and the ‘right’ way to live in Active Homes. Similarly, residents indicate that they themselves use social, cultural, and moral norms, but also sensorial experiences, to make decisions about how they live with (or without) technologies, including low-fidelity, established, taken for granted, and eco-inefficient ones. Active Home air regimes are revealed to be co-produced by (sometimes conflicting) interpretations from and consequent friction between housing professionals and residents. This has implications for the energy efficiency and air quality of Active Homes, and for social relations between housing professionals and residents.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Psychology
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1872-6178
Funders:	EPSRC
Last Modified:	16 Jan 2025 22:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/173908

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