Debating the future of comfort: environmental sustainability, energy consumption and the indoor environment

Chappells, Heather; and Shove, Elizabeth. (2005) Debating the future of comfort: environmental sustainability, energy consumption and the indoor environment. Building Research & Information, 33 (1). pp. 32-40. ISSN 1466-4321

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Abstract

Vast quantities of energy are consumed in heating and cooling to provide what are now regarded as acceptable standards of thermal comfort. In the UK as in a number of other countries, there is a real danger that responses in anticipation of global warming and climate change - including growing reliance on air-conditioning - will increase energy demand and CO2 emissions even further. This is an appropriate moment to reflect on the history and future of comfort, both as an idea and as a material reality. Based on interviews and discussions with UK policy makers and building practitioners involved in specifying and constructing what will become the indoor environments of the future, four possible scenarios are identified each with different implications for energy and resource consumption. By actively promoting debate about the indoor environment and associated ways of life, it may yet be possible to avoid becoming locked into social and technical trajectories that are ultimately unsustainable. The aim of this paper is to inspire and initiate just such a discussion through demonstrating that comfort is a highly negotiable socio-cultural construct.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Building Research & Information
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/libraryofcongress/hm
Subjects:
?? BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTIONCIVIL AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEERINGHM SOCIOLOGY ??
ID Code:
11284
Deposited By:
Users 810 not found.
Deposited On:
06 Aug 2008 15:27
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
19 Sep 2023 23:51