REFIT: Personalised Retrofit Decision Support Tools for UK Homes using Smart Home Technology
Lead Research Organisation:
University of East Anglia
Department Name: Environmental Sciences
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Firth, S.
(2015)
Smart Homes and Saving Energy
Hargreaves T
(2017)
Beyond energy feedback
in Building Research & Information
Hargreaves T
(2013)
Who uses smart homes? Representations of users by the smart home industry
in European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE)
Hargreaves T
(2017)
Learning to live in a smart home
Hargreaves T
Co-producing smart energy data and behaviours - opportunities and challenges
in Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers
Hargreaves T
(2014)
Practices and the built environment
in Practices, the Built Environment and Sustainability Workshop
Hargreaves T
(2014)
Technology adoption and the stability of practice: integrating ICTs into everyday life
in BEHAVE Conference
Hargreaves T
(2018)
Will smart homes save energy?
| Description | Potential users of smart home technologies expect them to reduce energy use as well as improve leisure activities, make domestic life more convenient, and improve security. These expectations are potentially conflicting, and there is a risk that smart homes may intensify energy-using activities at home. The smart home industry's current marketing of their technologies is silent on this issue, also promising multiple potential benefits. Smart home technologies are fundamentally about control of the domestic environment. They will help households control heating, lighting, appliances, and other aspects of the home, through a variety of interfaces including control hubs and smartphones. One issue that has not been considered is how multiple household members will control a single set of technologies. By affecting how homes are controlled, smart technologies will inevitably shape who is in control and when. These within-household dynamics are only just beginning to be explored. Privacy, trust, confidentiality and security are key concerns for the potential users of smart homes. To-date, the smart home industry has insufficiently responded to these concerns, focusing instead on the reliability and flexibility of the technologies, and the credibility of the manufacturers. Closing this gap between user needs and industry value propositions is important to ensure widespread diffusion of smart home technologies. |
| Exploitation Route | Our findings on smart home users' expectations can help develop industry's vision for smart homes so it is aligned with market demand. Our findings on control within households can help industry develop means of allowing multiple control functionality and decision rules for balancing competing demands. Our findings on privacy concerns can help industry and policymakers ensure high levels of security protocols are written into smart home developments. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Energy |
| URL | http://www.refitsmarthomes.org |
| Description | Our findings to-date have been widely disseminated in a range of seminars, workshops, conferences, meetings, and publications, involving both policymakers, industry stakeholders, and practitioners including applied research bodies and civil society. The book we wrote based on our research called 'Smart Homes and Their Users' (published by Springer in 2017) has been downloaded over 15,000 times. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-68018-7 We were part of a consortium that successfully won an €4m EU Marie-Curie Innovative Training Network (2021-2025) on smart home technology and explainable AI to train the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists working in this field. We are still contacted regularly by academics and smart home industry representatives wanting to discuss and build on our early work on smart home users. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Energy |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic Policy & public services |
| Description | Advice to Smart Meter Central Delivery Body on consumer engagement strategy |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | http://www.smartenergygb.org |
| Description | BEIS workshop on Beyond Energy Feedback led by Tom Hargreaves |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Evidence submitted to parliamentary inquiry on energy efficiency |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Interviewee on DECC review of evidence on demand-side response |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Prize |
| Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2014 |
| End | 02/2015 |
| Description | EU H2020 Research Grant |
| Amount | € 6,200,000 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 613169 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Department | Horizon 2020 |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 01/2014 |
| End | 12/2018 |
| Description | EU H2020 Research Grant |
| Amount | € 11,000,000 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | SEP-210156335 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Department | Horizon 2020 |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 02/2015 |
| End | 01/2019 |
| Description | EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN) |
| Amount | € 4,133,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Department | Horizon 2020 |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 01/2021 |
| End | 12/2025 |
| Description | UEA Faculty PhD Studentship |
| Amount | £45,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of East Anglia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2014 |
| End | 09/2017 |
| Description | UKERC Core Research Programme |
| Amount | £210,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2015 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| Description | UKERC Research Fund |
| Amount | £491,637 (GBP) |
| Organisation | UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2016 |
| End | 01/2018 |
| Title | Household Interviews on Smart Home Technologies |
| Description | Full dataset generated by household interviews on expectations for, and experiences of, smart home technologies (n=20, Oct 2013 -Aug 2015), archived in the UK Data Service's ReShare data repository (SN 852367). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This database is publicly available and accessible by other TEDDInet research groups working on smart homes. |
| URL | https://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/?sn=852367&type=Data%20catalogue |
| Title | National Survey on Perceptions of Smart Homes |
| Description | Full dataset generated by national survey measuring perceptions of smart home technologies (n=1054, Sep-Oct 2015), archived in the UK Data Service's ReShare data repository (SN 852366). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This database is publicly available and accessible by other TEDDInet research groups working on smart homes. |
| URL | https://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/?sn=852366&type=Data%20catalogue |
| Description | Collaboration with TEDDInet |
| Organisation | Teddinet |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Active participation in the TEDDInet network of TEDDI and BuildTEDDI projects funded by RCUK. Participation includes seminars, conferences, networking events. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Organisation and hosting of network events for digital economy researchers. |
| Impact | Presentations and papers at TEDDInet conferences and events. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Advisory panel member for C-Tech project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Ongoing advice to improve research activities of RCUK-funded project. Positive feedback from project members. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Behavioural Insights Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Invited to international policy conference on behavioural insights by BIT (the Behavioural Insights Team). Gave talk and wrote follow-up blog. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.bx2015.org/#!videos/c188c |
| Description | Conference Talk (NESS 2015 - Hargreaves) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference 2015 on 'Smart homes, control and energy management: How do smart home technologies influence control over energy use and domestic life?' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://ness2015.rural.no |
| Description | Interview with national newspaper |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Tom Hargreaves interviewed for and quoted in Sunday Times Ireland article about smart home technologies |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Invited Talk on 'Learning to Live in a Smart Home' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk on 'learning to live in a smart home' presented to workshop attended by c.40 academics, practitioners and policy makers working in the build environment. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Invited speaker to webinar on smart homes |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented work on smart homes to a webinar hosted by the Royal Society of Arts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited to give seminar to BEIS on 'Beyond Energy Feedback' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar to BEIS smart metering team on 'beyond energy feedback'. Generated considerable discussion and interest in ways to increase the value of in home displays. A follow-up event is planned and aspects of the talk also fed into an ongoing review BEIS are conducting in this area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Policy Workshop (What's the meaning of 'smart'?) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A workshop of policy and industry representatives to launch the 'What's the meaning of 'smart'?' report and discuss it's implications |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |