Supporting diverse roles for people in smart energy systems

Journal article, 2019

More prominent roles for households are often suggested in visions of smart energy systems. To this point, most research and design efforts are aimed at householders who are interested in energy and/or want or play an active role in smart energy systems. Therefore, the study presented in this paper aims to identify other roles for people and examines ways to support those roles. In generative group sessions, sixteen participants envisioned future living in smart energy systems. The findings show that the participants discussed diverse roles, with some wishing to be guided, while others wanted to think for themselves, for instance. Support, in the shape of products, services, and systems, was found to be able to serve three purposes; give information, enable control, and change the preconditions for energy use. When designing support, diversity could be embraced by looking beyond energy use to include ways to enable using less resources in everyday activities. These findings contribute to nuancing the roles people could play in smart energy systems and propose implications for design of smart energy technologies.