Energy Biographies Update, Energy & Communities meeting event, Keele – 21 March 2012

1. Energy Biographies Update
Energy & Communities meeting event, Keele –
21st March 2012
Karen Parkhill* Fiona Shirani^ Karen Henwood^
Catherine Butler* Nick Pidgeon*
*School of Psychology, Cardiff University ^School of Social Sciences, Cardiff
University
parkhillk@cardiff.ac.uk fionashirani@cardiff.ac.uk henwoodk@cardiff.ac.uk butlercc1@cardiff.ac.uk
pidgeonn@cardiff.ac.uk energybiographies@gmail.com www.energybiographies.org

2. Overview
• Background and broad overview of proposal
▫ Research questions, issues and concerns
▫ Case site introductions
▫ Revisions to original proposal
▫ What we have done so far
• Phase 2a reflections & the future
▫ Emergent themes (all names are pseudonyms)
▫ Second phase – longitudinal ideas
• Website

3. Research Objectives
1. Develop understanding of energy use by investigating and
comparing people's different ‘energy biographies’ across a
range of social settings
2. Examine how existing demand reduction interventions
interact with people's personal biographies and histories.
3. Develop improved understanding of how different
community types can support reductions in energy
consumption
…We will also be exploring the usefulness of innovative
(narrative, longitudinal and visual) research methods for
helping people reflect on the ways they use energy

4. Theory
Temporality
& Spaces of
community
Energy
Biographies
Socio-
Technical Lifecourse
Systems, Studies &
Practice Biographical
Theory & Turn
Transition

5. Case sites

6. Phases of research
Phase 2b:
Phase 2a: Extended
Phase 1: Context
Narrative Biographies &
Interviews
Interviews Multimodal
July 2011- Method
December 2011-
December 2011
May 2012 May 2012-
February 2013

7. P2a P2a P2b P2b P2c P2c
~5 ~5 ~ 10 ~ 10
mth mth mth mth
Lammas Lammas Lammas Lammas Lammas Lammas
n=25 n=18 n=7-10 n=16 n= 7-10 n=16
Cardiff Cardiff Cardiff Cardiff Cardiff Cardiff
n=25 n=30 n=7-10 n=10 n=7-10 n=10
RFH RFH RFH RFH RFH n= RFH
n=25 n=30 n=7-10 n=10 7-10 n=10
SB SB n=7- SB n= 7-
Website Website Website
n=25 10 10

8. Emergent theme 1: Frugality
Karen: I was going to ask actually because like you said you used to
turn your wife’s lights off and computers do you do that with guests
if they leave it on?
John: Oh no good god no. No, no let them do what they want to do.
We don’t very often have, my sister perhaps, my brother, people
from Australia occasionally but no then you’ve got to say well they’re
living in their own little place if they have the back bedroom and
they’ve got the lights on or whatever you know they’ve got to have it
on and that’s it so just let go. Otherwise I’d be called a mean sod.
No I just let them do what they want to do, I’m sure they’d act
responsibly.

9. Emergent theme 2:
Intergenerational transmission
Pat: Yeah. You see that I've got a blanket.
Neil: Don't matter how warm it is, she's got to have a …
Pat: But that's my mum's fault, I blame my mum because …
Neil: I blame her for a lot.
Pat: [laughs] In my mum's house we had no heating, no hot water and no
bathroom. So you did, you had a coal fire so the first, because the
place wasn't warm you had a blanket, so that's come with me all my
life … but as you say it's not cold in here is it?
Fiona: No.
Pat: I have my comfort, that is my comfort. But that's my mum's fault.
Neil: I offer to give her a cuddle to keep her warm but she's, 'Nah I'd rather
have a blanket!‘
Pat: 'I'll have a blanket!' [Giggles] So that's why we've got a blanket but
purely it's my taste yeah.

10. QL multi-modal methods
• Camera phones
• Between 1 & 2 directed to take photos related to
energy use, encouraged across different spaces
• Between 2 & 3 text messaged to take photo of what
they are doing in that moment and send back
• Timeline
• Between 2 & 3 (begun in 2)
• Tomorrow’s world newspaper
clippings

11. www.energybiographies.org
• About EBs
• Outputs
• Making links (case sites & other research)
• Sharing knowledges & experience: write your
own energy biography