Insights from an Australian Energy Living Lab: Understanding household energy use in transition
About the report
This report presents findings from the first phase of the Living Lab study within Work Package 7 (WP7) of the RACE2030 Scenarios for Future Living project. It presents insights from a 35-household Living Lab, where longitudinal engagement enabled a nuanced understanding of how households use energy, how decisions are made, and how practices evolve over time. The study employs a mixed-methods approach that combines high-resolution energy and environmental monitoring with householder engagement, including surveys and interviews, informed by WP1. This design allows us to examine how energy is used, and how and why practices shift over time, capturing the dynamic interactions between technologies, household routines, and contextual changes.
The findings in the report reflect broader social science literature, which demonstrates that household energy behaviour is not driven by simple economic logic, but rather a complex interplay of social, technical, contextual, and familial/care factors. Capturing these dynamics is critical for understanding energy behaviour, anticipating emerging pressures on the grid, and informing the design of interventions that are both effective and acceptable to households. The main findings from each section are summarised below.
Together, the findings demonstrate the value of a Living Lab approach for establishing lasting relationships with households, tracking multiple metrics over time, and better understanding how households experience the energy transition.