TY - JOUR
T1 - Empowering householders
T2 - Identifying predictors of intentions to use a home energy management system in the United Kingdom
AU - Whittle, Colin
AU - Jones, Christopher R.
AU - While, Aidan
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was supported by the EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre in Interdisciplinary Energy Research (E-Futures) .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/4/1
Y1 - 2020/4/1
N2 - Trials of technologies designed to promote residential demand-side energy management (DSM) have found aggregate levels of load-shifting behaviour and curtailment in energy use. These aggregate data, however, mask considerable differences in people's engagement in DSM at an individual household level. We present the findings of a quantitative exploration of people's intentions to use a home energy management system (HEMS) for residential DSM in the United Kingdom. The technology acceptance model (TAM) was used in conjunction with constructs measuring psychological empowerment and environmental attitudes to explore participants' acceptance of a HEMS to facilitate load-shifting. Findings from a mediation analysis showed perceptions of the usefulness of the HEMS and its ease of use were important predictors of people's intentions to use one. They also highlight a potential conflict between an individual's home energy consumption goals and national DSM goals. The implications of these findings for understanding end-user acceptance of HEMS are discussed. We conclude that seeking opportunities to promote shared, internalised goals for residential DSM may be an avenue for increasing the uptake and use of technologies designed to enable load-shifting (and other energy conservation behaviours) among end-users.
AB - Trials of technologies designed to promote residential demand-side energy management (DSM) have found aggregate levels of load-shifting behaviour and curtailment in energy use. These aggregate data, however, mask considerable differences in people's engagement in DSM at an individual household level. We present the findings of a quantitative exploration of people's intentions to use a home energy management system (HEMS) for residential DSM in the United Kingdom. The technology acceptance model (TAM) was used in conjunction with constructs measuring psychological empowerment and environmental attitudes to explore participants' acceptance of a HEMS to facilitate load-shifting. Findings from a mediation analysis showed perceptions of the usefulness of the HEMS and its ease of use were important predictors of people's intentions to use one. They also highlight a potential conflict between an individual's home energy consumption goals and national DSM goals. The implications of these findings for understanding end-user acceptance of HEMS are discussed. We conclude that seeking opportunities to promote shared, internalised goals for residential DSM may be an avenue for increasing the uptake and use of technologies designed to enable load-shifting (and other energy conservation behaviours) among end-users.
KW - Demand side management
KW - Goal internalisation
KW - Home energy management system
KW - Smart energy technology
KW - Technology acceptance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079605069&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111343
DO - 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111343
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85079605069
VL - 139
JO - Energy Policy
JF - Energy Policy
SN - 0301-4215
M1 - 111343
ER -