Consumers-and-domestic-heating-controls-a-literature-review

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Consumer attitudes and experience � Methodological difficulties make it hard to assess consumer understanding of controls and their use in practice. However, qualitative research suggests that many consumers experience difficulty in using and understanding their heating controls � Problems highlighted include difficult to read displays, difficult to use buttons, lack of intuitive design, poor positioning of controls and a lack of effective supporting information and advice. Related to these factors, consumers often do not accurately grasp how their heating controls work with their heating system, and how this relates to energy use � As a result, many consumers do not use their controls as intended, in a cost effective way or, in some cases, do not use them at all User perception of controls The findings on heating control use vary with the research approach taken. The Scottish Government Central Heating Programme, which installed new heating systems for households experiencing fuel poverty, found 79.6 per cent of householders with new gas systems found them easy to use. 24 These results reflect the fact that Programme included mandatory post-installation instruction for householders on how to use their systems. Despite this, 9.8 per cent reported finding their controls difficult or extremely difficult to use. The two main problems reported were an inability to understand digital programmers and an inability to manipulate boiler-mounted timer clocks. The survey showed variations in usability between demographic groups, with pensioners and those in local authority housing more likely to have difficultly using controls. Energy Action Scotland, who carried out the survey reported that some respondents who say they found the controls easy to use did not use the controllers as intended by the manufacturers. In a smaller survey of UK consumers who had recently installed new controls, carried out in 2007, the proportion describing their controls as fairly easy or easy to use was 71 per cent in the case of programmers and 58 per cent in the case of thermostatic radiator valves 25 (TRVs), while 11 per cent considered their new controls difficult to use. Other data sources suggest lower levels of usability. In focus group research carried out in 2004, a majority reported programmers were too complex, although some considered them 26 straightforward. A survey of UK energy efficiency professionals, two thirds (68 per cent) felt that heating 27 controls were difficult to understand and operate, especially for the elderly. 24 Based on a sample of around 1,000, Scottish Government, 2007, Assessing the Impact of the Central Heating Programme on Tackling Fuel Poverty: The First Three Years of the Programme 2001-2004 Final Report, chapter 10 [http://bit.ly/M9OM1N] 25 Based on a self-selecting online survey of 400 visitors to a climate change-related website (Energy Saving Trust and BBC/Open University), and 80 telephone interviews. This sample was small, and likely to be biased towards energy-aware consumers. Survey quoted in Caird, S. and Roy, R. with S. Potter and H. Herring, 2007, Consumer adoption and use of household energy efficiency products Report DIG-09, Dec. 2007. [http://bit.ly/H7M2Ub] 26 Rathouse K and Young B/DEFRA MTP, 2004, BNDH15: Use of domestic heating controls. Consumers and domestic heating controls - a literature review 8
Inclusivity of control design Research in the field of ‘inclusivity by design’ assesses products according to different dimensions of usability; the most important dimensions identified for heating controls are vision, dexterity and thinking 28 . Positioning is an important fourth element. Focus group research has highlighted a range of barriers to usability according to these 29 criteria. In 2004, Ricability tested heating controls with a panel of users with impaired vision and dexterity to assess the usability of controls from these perspectives 30 . The research covered TRVs, room thermostats, digital and analogue programmers and programmable thermostats. This found considerable variation in usability between the types and models of controls tested. Many controls significantly lacked usability for either vision or dexterity or both. Among the most common barriers to usability identified by this and other qualitative 31 research are: Dexterity � Buttons which are difficult to use, because they are too small, too close together or too stiff � Dials which are difficult to adjust, because they lack grip, are too stiff or are too slippery � ‘Tappets’ (set points on mechanical programmers) which were too stiff or otherwise difficult to move and place (Often the whole dial moves unintentionally when the tappets were being adjusted) � Buttons need to be pressed down for a period of time, which consumers find difficult and frustrating Vision � On-screen information, where available, which is difficult to read, because it is too small or lacking sufficient contrast. Small symbols or units that were in small text were a particular source of difficulty � Control markings which are difficult to read, because they are too small or lacking contrast. In some cases this was related to the controller’s position, for example, markings on TRVs, which are typically in a low position, which are not large or clear enough to be read by a user standing up Positioning Consumers also reported difficulty using controls due to poor positioning: they reported controls were placed too high, too low (particularly in the case of TRVs), out of reach, somewhere dark, or partly hidden. 32 27 Quoted in ibid. 28 Combe N, Harrison DJ, Way C, 2011, Enabling sustainable user interaction with domestic heating controls, [http://bit.ly/LXU4BN] 29 Ricability is a charity devoted to consumer testing products for older people and people with disabilities, www.ricability.org.uk 30 Ricability, 2004, Taking Control: a Guide to Buying or Upgrading Central Heating Controls 31 Bordass B and Leaman A, 2012, People, environmental control and buildings in use – PART A Improving local control devices: How to please end-users and save energy. Presentation at Reading University, 12 January 2012 [www.usablebuildings.co.uk]; Caird, S. and Roy, R. with S. Potter and H. Herring, 2007, Consumer adoption and use of household energy efficiency products Report DIG- 09, Dec. 2007. [http://bit.ly/H7M2Ub]; Meier A.K, Aragon C, Hurwitz B, Mujumdar D, Perry D, Peffer T, & Pritoni M, 2010, How people actually use thermostats. Proceedings of the 2010 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, 2, 193-206; Rathouse K and Young B/DEFRA MTP, 2004, BNDH15: Use of domestic heating controls. Consumers and domestic heating controls - a literature review 9
Page 1 and 2: Consumers and domestic heating cont
Page 3 and 4: Contents Executive summary 4 Introd
Page 5 and 6: Introduction Domestic heating contr
Page 7: Self-declared behaviour, as in surv
Page 11 and 12: The qualitative research 40 highlig
Page 13 and 14: Information and instruction A lack
Page 15 and 16: This sentiment was echoed by a resi
Page 17 and 18: Because of hassle factor and upfron
Page 19 and 20: Conversations with installers sugge
Page 21 and 22: However, these dynamics are unlikel
Page 23 and 24: The Energy Saving Trust figures ind
Page 25 and 26: The Department of Trade and Industr
Page 27 and 28: The costs of controls can vary acco
Page 29 and 30: Comparison of estimated financial s
Page 31 and 32: Integrated control approaches for l
Page 33 and 34: Estimates of the impact of feedback
Page 35 and 36: Driving demand A large number of ho
Page 37 and 38: Warm Front the UK state-funded fuel
Page 39 and 40: To meet the different needs of cons
Page 41 and 42: Conclusions Consumers find heating
Page 43 and 44: Standard Assessment Procedure To en
Page 45 and 46: Public procurement Public authoriti
Page 47 and 48: Annex One: Types of control Gas cen

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