Oikonomou, Eleni;
Zimmermann, Nici;
Davies, Michael;
Oreszczyn, Tadj;
(2022)
Behavioural Change as a Domestic Heat Pump Performance Driver: Insights on the Influence of Feedback Systems from Multiple Case Studies in the UK.
Sustainability
, 14
(24)
, Article 16799. 10.3390/su142416799.
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Abstract
Heat pumps (HPs) are seen as an increasingly important technology able to contribute significantly towards the decarbonisation of the domestic stock in the UK. However, there appears to be a performance gap between predicted and real-life HP performance, with several studies highlighting the need to include the HP’s interaction with users when examining their performance. This study examines the role of user behaviour in mitigating this performance gap from a systems perspective. A sample of 21 case studies was selected from 700 domestic HPs monitored across the UK via the government’s Renewable Heat Premium Payment Scheme for the collection of qualitative and quantitative socio-technical data. The application of systems thinking facilitated the identification of the underlying interactions between the HP system and its users. The systems analysis revealed that HP performance relies on complex socio-technical system interactions, including behavioural patterns, and that enabling feedback information processes can have a significant impact on user behaviour. The study enabled a deeper perspective on performance influencers relating to behavioural patterns and achieved new insights into the requirements for well-performing HPs. These findings have important implications for policy makers, installers and manufacturers of HP systems and their users.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Behavioural Change as a Domestic Heat Pump Performance Driver: Insights on the Influence of Feedback Systems from Multiple Case Studies in the UK |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/su142416799 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416799 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | heat pumps; performance gap; user behaviour; behavioural change; feedback systems; systems thinking; causal loop diagrams |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10164883 |
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