As a designer and researcher, I look at how residents use energy, make themselves and others comfortable in and around their homes, and the role that objects and technology play in this. I believe it is important that people can share their ideas and experiences in a way that suits them, but that also gives them new insights. I am curious about the everyday, often self-evident ways in which people deal with their homes and energy. I therefore design and research energy practices together with residents by encouraging them to look at their homes with a different perspective and to ask questions in creative ways. For example, by taking photos and making floor plans of warm or cold spots, we learn from the knowledge that people themselves have about their homes and what they use their energy for.
Based on this shared knowledge, we try to find solutions that suit specific households, such as things they have already invented or made themselves, the way they deal with energy and temperature, and their home. We select an idea for a product, which I, as a designer, will then develop further using high-quality materials and techniques. The residents then try out this solution in their homes. They live with it for a while and together we continue to tinker and improve it until it works really well.
In the final part of the research, I examine how the solutions developed in one household can also be useful for other people in the neighborhood. I develop some ideas into products that can be used in various forms by households in the other Living Labs. Everything we discover—from the solutions we have created together with residents to traditional, new, or even speculative ideas—is included in a catalog to make participation in energy transitions broader and more inclusive. In the final phase, we link our insights to other studies within the larger project. We look at how the products created and previous research subjects fit in with the working methods of, for example, energy coaches or housing associations in order to better understand residents. In this way, we ensure that what we have learned together with residents is actually used for policy and new actions related to the energy transition.