• Energy Research
• 2016-2025close

This paper examines the possibilities for significant energy innovation in rural locations in developed countries. It thereby questions the dominant framing of energy experiments and ‘living labs’ as urban. We discuss findings from empirical research with a rural community on Bruny Island, Australia, where a 3-year research project (2016–19) – CONSORT – funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), is underway with approximately 35 householders trialing a new residential battery storage and photovoltaic energy system. Bruny Island has a problem of peak demand for electricity during tourist periods, and a back-up diesel generator is currently used to supply electricity during peaks. An alternative solution is being trialled through CONSORT: household-level battery storage, which can be drawn upon by the utility to supply the grid as required. In this paper we explore two energy geography issues: first, how global and national energy challenges are manifesting on Bruny Island through the CONSORT project, and, second, the ways in which the particular sociotechnical context of Bruny Island has influenced the CONSORT project, creating tensions as well as opening up opportunities for energy innovation.

In Australia, despite widespread adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) power, and the growing familiarity with other energy technologies, technologies associated with renewable generation in the home may still present perceived risks to householders and be the subject of contestation. In this paper, we argue that a focus on emotions can complement existing approaches for understanding the messiness and complexity of trade-offs households negotiate as they experience the process of purchasing, installing and using smart energy technologies. We explore emotional responses to a system of automated 'smart' renewable storage designed to support the local electricity network trialed with thirty-four households on Bruny Island, in Tasmania, Australia. We integrate our focus on emotions with a relational-materialist theory of affordances which helps us to unpack the specific features of the technology - which may encourage, discourage, demand, refuse and allow certain household practices as well as trading energy from their battery for financial benefit. The institutional design of the technology delivery which involved minimal decision making power from householders had a significantly negative impact on the lived experiences of householders with the technology. Our focus on affect also revealed the stress and frustration experienced by householders who could not understand and control the technology in the way desired and in line with islander attitudes of self-reliance and autonomy. We can also learn from the positive emotions of enthusiasm, delight and satisfaction experienced by householders. We find affordances theory is a helpful approach for unpacking specific features of the system that provoke different, sometimes even contradictory, responses, yet also suggest refinements to the theory to incorporate the context in which the technology comes to be in people's lives.

In Australia, as elsewhere, household electricity infrastructure is changing: over one-fifth of Australian households have rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV), and there is growing opportunity to purchase household battery storage. Australia has the highest proportion of distributed (household-level) solar PV worldwide. There is, however, concern from Australian utilities and governments that increasing numbers of households will opt to leave the centralised electricity grid, as it becomes technically feasible and cost-effective for them to do so. In this paper we explore the motivations and decision making of off-grid households, through a case study of the State of Tasmania, Australia. Our empirical research involved identifying existing sources of off-grid data and undertaking a survey and interviews of off-grid households. We conceptualise off-grid households as an instance of scarce data – a contrast to the concept of big data. Drawing on insights from critical data studies, we show how scarce data can act as a barrier to effective governance, with energy policy making skewed towards governing data-rich policy areas.

Managing thermal comfort, in both hot and cold climates, critically influences energy use in homes [1-4]. For low income households, who commonly live in thermally poor housing stock, maintaining thermal comfort can be costly relative to household income, leading to trade-offs between comfort, energy use and affordability. Comfort as a concept has been explored from many vantages, including as a physiological need [5,6]; a parameter for healthy housing [7]; as an energy efficiency building standard [4,8] and a cultural construct [9,10]. Yet, there is little research available that provides detailed insight into the relationship between thermal comfort and energy efficiency in existing housing stock or about the impact of support programs on these key indicators. This paper reviews measures of household thermal comfort as they relate to energy efficiency assessments in a project, Get Bill Smart (GBS), that worked with low income households in Tasmania, Australia. Thermal comfort and energy use data was collected over 15 months from 51 households, a sub-set of the 510 households participating overall. Longitudinal interviews and housing observations were also conducted. New thermal comfort and energy efficiency indicators were developed from this data. This paper demonstrates the application of these indicators by providing examples of findings in GBS. Suggestions are made for the refinement of measures discussed for use in future applications.