Exploring Renewable Energy Futures through Household Energy Resilience
Paper in proceeding, 2022

A transition to renewable energy increases the risks of disruptions when electricity supply does not meet demand. HCI has explored how digital technologies can mitigate such problems in households through support for reducing or shifting electricity use. However, faster transitions may be possible if some disturbances can be acceptable and households are supported in adapting to them. In this paper, we present a study of 21 Swedish households and their experiences of and ideas on how to manage disruptions in electricity supply. We call this perspective household energy resilience and identify three strategies for resilience: (1) response diversity, i.e., diversity in ways of carrying out normally electricity-dependent practices, (2) creating opportunities to develop resilience, and (3) building community energy resilience. Furthermore, we suggest how HCI can support these strategies, both by providing tools to increase resilience and by carefully designing technology and services to be more resilient in themselves.

Sustainable HCI

Renewable energy

Energy resilience

Households

Energy futures

Author

Hanna Hasselqvist

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Design & Human Factors

Sara Renström

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Maria Håkansson

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Helena Strömberg

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Design & Human Factors

Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

CHI '22: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
New Orleans, USA,

Designing Everyday Energy Resilience

HSB Living Lab, 2019-12-01 -- 2022-04-15.

Swedish Energy Agency (49807-1), 2019-12-01 -- 2021-12-31.

Areas of Advance

Information and Communication Technology

Energy

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Subject Categories

Other Engineering and Technologies not elsewhere specified

Energy Systems

Information Systemes, Social aspects

Infrastructure

HSB living lab

DOI

10.1145/3491102.3517597

More information

Latest update

1/3/2024 9