Towards a Relational Sociology of Retrofit

Abstract

Decarbonisation of residential buildings (‘retrofit’) is vital if nations are to meet declared net zero targets. This challenge is especially acute in the UK, which has some of the least energy efficient homes in Europe. Yet, to date, sociology has paid relatively little attention either to the urgency of this challenge or to its potential solutions. This article uses concepts from relational sociology to propose a complete reframing of the retrofit challenge and concludes by offering suggestions to improve energy policy design and incentives. It opens new avenues for sociologically driven research into how and why people ‘retrofit’ their homes, highlighting dynamics of trust, power and emotion as meaningful barriers to retrofit at scale. We conclude that the multiple stakeholders seeking to boost energy efficiency interventions in homes should focus less upon economic incentives for ‘rational actors’ and more upon reducing, facilitating and smoothing the ‘relational work’ needed to deliver retrofit.