Home heating cultures in transition: exploring material participation, norms and practices in Swedish households

Abstract

Background: The transition to sustainable energy systems requires a deeper understanding of how households experience and negotiate heating practices over time. In Sweden, where residential heating remains a major source of energy use, heating systems are embedded in daily routines, shaped by evolving technologies, social norms, and material contexts. This study draws on the Energy Cultures Framework and oral history interviews to examine how Swedish households recall and reflect on their “heating careers”, tracing changes in infrastructures, behaviours, and meanings across the life course. Results: The findings disclose a transition from manual, labour-intensive systems to automated and centralised heating solutions, alongside shifts in comfort expectations and user engagement. Narratives highlight how certain practices have persisted, been abandoned, or re-emerged, particularly during moments of disruption such as the 2022 energy crisis. While automated systems offer convenience, they can also reduce energy awareness and user agency. Financial constraints, warm rent arrangements, and housing conditions further shape how households engage with heating transitions, revealing inequalities in the capacity to act. Conclusions: Understanding home heating as a socio-technical and emotionally embedded practice is crucial for designing inclusive energy transitions. This study shows how identity, habit, memory, and structural conditions shape household heating cultures over time. Oral histories offer valuable insight into how people adapt to and resist change, emphasising the need for policies that acknowledge diverse experiences, promote energy literacy, and address the socio-material inequalities that influence participation in heating transitions.