Energy, Emerging Technologies and Gender in Homes
Gender 'blindness' impacts negatively on engagement with smart home technologies. If the energy transition is to be realised, then gender must be addressed.
This special issue explores key questions in the energy transition: How is gender accounted for in the visions, relationships and practices with smart technologies? How does this impact on energy outcomes? How can gender insights make energy policy more effective?
Guest editorial team: Kirsten Gram-Hanssen, Yolande Strengers, Line K. Aagaard & Kari Dahlgren
Smart home and other emerging technologies (e.g. home automation and load control, solar and battery charging integration, real-time feedback, demand response and/or improved efficiency) require considerable involvement and participation from inhabitants. This special issue reveals why understanding the gender impacts of these technologies is crucial for realising the energy policy, regulatory and building efficiency aspirations.
New research identifies how technology use, energy consumption and everyday practices in homes reflect gendered differences. Evidence is presented that shows policy and industry visions for smart home technologies often neglect the importance of gender in the implementation of technologies into everyday life. A gender ‘blindness’ is detected which highlights the inequities that characterise technology use, energy consumption, and access in Global North and South contexts.
The special issue calls for more inclusive technologies designed for different competences, flexible practices, routines and values. More inclusive visions within policy and industry are needed to acknowledge, regulate with, and design for the lived experiences, gendered dynamics and everyday practices of people. The special issue calls for more inclusive technologies designed for different competences, flexible practices and routines. Policymakers, technologists and researchers need to carefully consider and attune to these dynamics. Maintaining an intersectional gender lens will be critical to realising energy policy ambitions, and ensuring that the energy transition delivers equitable and inclusive outcomes.
Table of contents
Energy, emerging technologiesand gender in homes [editorial]
Y. Strengers, K. Gram-Hanssen,
K. Dahlgren & L.K. Aagaard
Technological fascination and reluctance: gendered
practices in the smart home
L. K. Aagard & L.V. Madsen
Masculine roles and practices in homes with photovoltaic
systems
M. Mechlenborg & K. Gram-Hanssen
The gender of smart charging
S. Pink
Living in an Active Home: household dynamics and
unintended consequences
F. Shirani, K. O’Sullivan, K. Henwood, R. Hale & N.
Pidgeon
Energy housekeeping: intersections of gender, domestic
labour and technologies
R. Martin
Who cares? How care practices uphold the decentralised
energy order
K. Lucas-Healey, H. Ransan-Cooper, H. Temby & A.W.
Russell
Attuning smart home scripts to household and energy care
D. Chambers
Emerging technologies’ impacts on ‘man caves’ and their
energy demand
Y. Strengers, K. Dahlgren & L. Nicholls
Brokering gender empowerment in energy access in the
Global South
A. Schiffer, M. Greene, R. Khalid, C. Foulds, C.A.
Vidal, M. Chatterjee, S. Dhar-Bhattacharjee, N. Edomah, O. Sule, D. Palit &
A.N. Yesutanbul
The gendering of energy household labour
A. Aggeli, T.H. Christensen & S.P.A.K. Larsen
Gender roles and domestic power in energy-saving home
improvements
F. Bartiaux
Feedback on the special issue
Developing an Intersectional Approach to Emerging Energy Technologies in Homes
Tom Hargreaves and Nickhil Sharma
Dismantling Power and Bringing Reflexivity into the Eco-modern Home
O. Osunmuyiwa, H. Ahlborg, M. Hultman, K. Michael & A. Åberg
Gender and Ethics of Care in Energy Systems
Sarah Darby
What is the Problem that Smart Home Technologies Solve?
Sylvia Breukers
Blind Spots in Energy Policy
Lynne Gallagher
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