A transdisciplinary engineering and systems approach for decarbonizing UK home heating
Wise, Freya; Cooper, Adam; Eckert, Claudia
Authors
Dr Freya Wise Freya.Wise@uwe.ac.uk
Research Fellow ESRC SWDTP
Adam Cooper
Claudia Eckert
Contributors
Adam Cooper
Editor
Federico Trigos
Editor
Josip Stjepandić
Editor
Richard Curran
Editor
Irina Lazar
Editor
Abstract
At present, only around 10% of the heat pumps required to reach our critical 2050 climate goals are being installed in the UK. The government has set ambitious targets to phase out gas boilers by 2035, replacing them with heat pumps. This paper argues that instead of viewing the low carbon heating transition as a simple techno-economic issue, solved by a technology swap, we need a transdisciplinary systems approach to address this complex socio-technical challenge. Drawing on previous research and the literature we identify the current level of heat pump uptake and consider some of the barriers to the low carbon heating transition including technical aspects, installers skill shortages, financial barriers and informational challenges. We find that these barriers are mostly addressed in silos without considering the interrelationship between different aspects. Heat pumps should be considered in the context of a whole house approach to retrofit and barriers need to be overcome to make the technology more attractive to households. In this paper we call for a systemic, transdisciplinary approach to the low carbon heating transition to accelerate uptake: combining an understanding of social, engineering and policy perspectives. Key to this are systems-based methods and transdisciplinary approaches that enable engineering and engineers to be part of the solution. We present the benefits of this approach and suggest some principles for further research.
Presentation Conference Type
Conference Paper (published)
Conference Name
31st ISTE International Conference on Transdisciplinary Engineering
Start Date
Jul 9, 2024
End Date
Jul 11, 2024
Online Publication Date
Dec 4, 2024
Publication Date
Dec 3, 2024
Deposit Date
Dec 6, 2024
Publicly Available Date
Dec 11, 2024
Peer Reviewed
Peer Reviewed
Pages
359-368
Series Title
Advances in Transdisciplinary Engineering
Series Number
60
Book Title
Engineering For Social Change: Proceedings of the 31st ISTE International Conference on Transdisciplinary Engineering, London, United Kingdom, 9-11 July 2024
