Using domestication theory to support the transition to heat pumps in UK owner-occupied homes

There is a need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels to reduce carbon emissions which contribute towards global warming. Domestic heating accounts for roughly 20% of UK carbon emissions (ETI, 2015) and domestic gas consumption represents 18.6% of total UK energy consumption by all final users (BEIS, 2023). Heat pumps are a type of heating system which use electricity to draw in energy from the surroundings to provide heating and present an opportunity to decarbonise heating. The UK Government aims to reach 600,000 heat pump installations per year by 2028 (DESNZ, 2023b). In 2022, heat pumps represented the main method of heating the home of only 1% of UK households (DESNZ, 2023a), and the UK had only installed around 370,000 heat pumps to date (EHPA, 2023). While heat pump uptake has been investigated by multiple disciplines, there is a lack of research investigating why households living in owner-occupied homes with a gas boiler do not adopt a heat pump, how lived experiences of the two heating systems compares, and how well efforts to encourage uptake align with potential adopters’ needs and make use of adopters’ perspectives. Domestication theory, which examines the process of adopting and using technology, is identified as a valuable theory to apply to the issue of heat pump uptake. A novel conceptual framework is created to apply the theory to the adoption of heat pumps.

This research aims to establish how domestication theory can be used to identify the socio-cultural barriers, motivations and enablers to heat pump adoption. It asks: 1) how lived experiences and perceptions of heating systems for people living in homes with a heat pump compare with those with a gas boiler; 2) what helps and hinders people deciding to adopt a heat pump, 3) how domestication theory can be used to analyse the adoption of new heating systems and 4) how we can encourage the transition from gas boilers to heat pumps in the UK by understanding the lived experiences and perceptions of people in homes with those systems through the lens of domestication theory.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants living in owner-occupied homes with a heat pump (n=11) or gas boiler (n=6) to establish how lived experiences with a heat pump or boiler compare and to identify factors with a positive or negative influence on heat pump adoption. A multiple-choice survey of 182 respondents with a gas boiler investigated barriers preventing non-adopters from adopting a heat pump and tested the correlation relationship between respondents’ stated likelihood of adopting a heat pump and their understandings related to domestication work about the phases of the domestication process. Content analysis of publicly available online materials provided by 20 actors who facilitate heat pump uptake was performed to identify which types of domestication work and which phases of the domestication process their materials related to.

Results indicate that participants with either a heat pump or boiler understood and used their heating system in similar ways, but had created different meanings about their heating system. Findings identified three understandings that are important for people considering to adopt a heat pump. These are: that heat pumps are desirable for the individual, that life with a heat pump can be an acceptable experience and that heat pump acquisition and installation is possible and practicable in their current home and circumstances. Findings suggest that an individual’s ability to form all three of these understandings about heat pump adoption in relation to their values or identity, their home and everyday life helps them to consider adopting a heating pump, whereas their inability to establish one or more of the three understandings hinders their considerations. The use of domestication theory to understand evidence from the three studies establishes that the materials provided by actors who facilitate heat pump uptake do not align with non-adopters’ needs and do not help individuals to create all three understandings. Recommendations are made for ways in which actors might better support UK heat pump uptake including by using insights from lived experiences of different heating systems.