Sustainability at home: An exploratory study on monitoring needs and energy management actions of solar power producers

Abstract

This exploratory study focused on the energy consumption practices of customer-producers (prosumers) in relation to their needs in monitoring energy production. Our analysis of both production monitoring activities and domestic activities in real situations revealed the motivations of these producers and demonstrated that the actions of energy management were not dependent on the status of customer-producer. The actions of energy management arose from individual and collective constructions, as well as the appropriation of electrical appliances and attractive pricing offers. These results suggest that the issue of offering incentives for energy management would benefit from greater attention to questions of appropriation, pricing, and technical devices. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.