This project seeks to understand the factors influencing the adoption process for all customers, identifying challenges, barriers, and risks of adoption of data and digital technologies in the context of smart-homes by reviewing and analysing both academic and industry-level research and project outcomes, which would then be applied to the testing phase of this project to prove or disprove the findings and identify appropriate mitigating factors
Problem Bring Solved
In order to meet the challenge of achieving net-zero by 2050, the UK needs to decarbonise 20,000 properties each week for the next 25 years to meet its goal. This includes work to improve households’ energy and water efficiency, which considers the technologies and appliances, as well as the building fabric itself. Even small changes at the household level can result in a significant impact on the energy network when aggregated. Such a large-scale implementation requires influencing household behaviours. The ability to engage with the transition to net-zero is not something that customers universally possess. An individual may be limited by their 1) capacity to engage, 2) the opportunity to participate, or 3) their willingness to take the risk, as explored by CSE (2018): 1. A customer requires the intellectual capability to understand the benefits of the solution being offered, the financial capabilities to purchase the solution being offered, and the technical capability to use the solution appropriately. 2. A customer requires the opportunity to participate, be that a service provider offering them the opportunity, or if there is a need for their participation on the system they are connected to. 3. Often with innovation comes risk and uncertainty. A customer, particularly one with additional needs, may not have the same appetite for risk and therefore may be unwilling to participate. Low-income and/or vulnerable households, often considered the hard to reach, can often be left behind due to one, or a combination of, the above points being true. The adoption process may not be directly relevant to these households, as the decision is made for them at the first stage based on the barriers to entry they face. As such, the majority of those who are currently engaged with the journey to net-zero and may already be using low-carbon technologies are not those who would benefit the most from the potential bill savings derived from these technologies. The decarbonisation agenda must therefore address this, ensuring that nobody is left behind or disadvantaged
Impacts and benefits
It was of vital importance to retain a consumer focus during this Discovery project. Too many projects in this area are focused only on the technologies, or on the environmental impacts and benefits; both of which are relevant, but we recognised there may be a gap when considering consumer adoption factors.
Consumers, and therefore people, differ substantially in their needs, motivations, and challenges, and it was important to reflect this throughout the project. NEA were able to bring their experience of dealing directly with consumers in vulnerable circumstances to this project, ensuring their literature review was undertaken with a lens of understanding the direct and indirect impacts on this user group. The framework, and in particular the resulting tool, was developed directly from the consumer’s perspective, and brings to the forefront a number of the key questions these users, and others from disadvantaged or minority groups, may require answering prior to adoption of smart home technologies.
It is crucial that smart home technologies are considered fully in the journey to net-zero, particularly the retrofitting of said solutions to existing housing stock. By focusing on the consumer, we have been able to identify the key enablers and barriers which, if considered and addressed, will encourage positive adoption of these technologies, in turn leading to positive environmental impacts.
Our recommendations propose the consumer’s needs, views and requirements, are captured throughout the development and installation of smart home technologies, to ensure that solutions are fit-for-purpose and likely to be adopted, alongside additional recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the solutions post-installation, and others to make the solutions more accessible in the first instance.
