Residential Energy Research: Twenty Years On

In 2006, I argued that household energy research was dominated by survey-based, economic and technical analyses, while too often failing to combine measured energy use with qualitative accounts of how people use energy in their homes. Two decades later, in this Perspective, I revisit this argument and ask whether the gap between theory, method, and real-world residential energy use has been resolved. Drawing on both my own work over the last 20 years and recent comprehensive analyses of the literature in the field, I argue that residential energy research has expanded in scale, scope and technical capacity, with stronger metering, modelling and monitoring tools. However, much of the evidence base remains weighted towards short-term quantitative and technical evaluations, while research on routines, comfort, trust, social relations, housing conditions and aesthetics is still less consistently integrated. I conclude that integrated mixed-method designs are needed. These designs can build on the strengths of meters, models and monitoring by connecting them with how energy is used, managed and shifted in homes, so that residential energy research can better support energy transitions that are both effective and just in the face of climate change.