This document summarizes research from energy biography interviews conducted in Peterston, Wales. It provides context on the study and its aims to understand people's energy use and behaviors. 68 initial interviews were conducted with 74 participants across a range of demographics. 36 participants are taking part in longitudinal follow up interviews to understand how energy use changes over time. The interviews explore daily routines, life transitions, and attitudes towards energy. Participants also took photographs related to energy use. Emerging findings suggest that individual biography interacts with social and policy factors to influence energy decisions. Insights from Peterston residents suggest openness to local sustainability initiatives but a need for better communication of efforts.

1. Energy Biographies
Presentation at AGM of Cyswllt Peterston Connect
25th
September 2013

2. Context
• Concerns about environment, climate change, energy
security and affordability – need to think about energy
production and consumption
• How and why do people develop and maintain particular
lifestyles and behaviours in relation to energy?
• Energy Biographies – investigating people’s energy use
in the context of their everyday lives and life trajectories

3. Case Sites

4. The Sample
• Wave 1 – 68 interviews with 74 participants (34 men and
40 women) aged 14 to 80, a range of employment,
relationship and household circumstances. 20 people in
Peterson
• Wave 2 & 3 (Longitudinal) – 36 participants (18 men and
18 women) aged 18 to 70. 5 people in Peterston

5. The Interviews – main themes
2. Interview 2 – July 2012
• Changes since interview 1
• Follow up on themes from interview 1 – waste, frugality
and guilt
• Discussion of photographs produced in between interview task
3. Interview 3 – January 2013
• Changes since interview 2
• Discussion of energy futures in response to video clips and
photograph task undertaken between interviews
1. Interview 1 – Jan/Feb 2012
• Introductions – family, work, community
• Daily routines – everyday energy use
• Life transitions – moments of lifestyle change

6. Activities – participant-generated photos
Activity 1 – participant-generated photos
• Participants were asked to take photographs of things they felt were
related to energy use around four themes
• Two week period for each theme. Participants were sent texts to remind
them of the theme
• Pictures then formed the basis for discussion in interview 2

7. Activities – participant-generated photos
Activity 2 – text prompted photos
• Participants were sent text messages asking them to take a
picture of what they were doing and return to us
• 10 occasions over 4 months. Same days and times across all case
sites – allows some comparison of everyday energy use
• Pictures then formed
the basis for discussion
in interview 3

8. Analysing the data
We have different approaches to exploring the data:
•Using codes to explore themes across the interviews
•Case biographies – focusing on the individual
•Qualitative Longitudinal – building understanding over time
•Multi-modal – using the images produced

9. Some emerging key findings
• Change occurs through processes that are interconnected across
time and at different scales
• Biographical intertwined with the social
• Key factors that lead to uptake of household level and wider lifestyle
changes
▫ Community support, financial and cultural resources, social and
political beliefs, policies
▫ Importance of wider social cues
“I’m not naturally an environmentalist or anything: I’m rather a red than a green
politically…I’m definitely a Socialist and I have a very strong sense of why I’m a
Socialist and why I believe in that and about equality and poverty and all those
sorts of things, and the nice thing about Futurespace…is that it brings those two
things together; you’re not only lowering people’s bills, it has a whole
environmental impact as well.” Steve

10. Insights for understanding change

11. Taking the work forward
• Relationship between work and home
• Knowing how to be sustainable
• Changing norms and perceptions of sustainability
• Qualitative longitudinal analysis – e.g. do life transitions
represent opportunities for sustainability?
“We notice as old lagging environmentalists a generational change in the
attitude to recycling for example and energy conservation and a whole host of
environmental issues and I’ve probably said it to you before you know we
move from being crackers you know crackpot kind of ex-hippies to being
mainstream without changing our stance whatsoever, it’s merely the world
changed around us but our children are brought up in school with stuff about
recycling and so on, different attitudes.” (Jeremy)

12. Focus on Peterston
• ‘It’s a really nice community village’ – good for families
• Wealthy area – people anticipated high energy use but
also interest in ‘green’ issues
• What do people in Peterston consider essential energy
use?

13. Cyswllt Peterston Connect
I think they are quite a good bunch round here that they
do try and do things to cut costs and help the environment
you know because the recycling is big around here; you
should see it out there on recycling days, mounds of it! But
no I think everybody chips in. (Robert)
My kids come and say ‘oh mum this is going on at the weekend, they
need help to clear the pond at school’ you know so it’s by involving the
children at the primary school I think it then enforces the parents
as well because even if I was thinking ‘oh’, the kids make me! [Laughs]
So from what I’ve seen of what the Peterston Connect group do it’s
really good and I did notice there was a sign up and I assume that’s
them, Big Village Clean, in the next few weeks so I assume that’s their
incentive as well so they do things like that which we will go along and
join in so no its really nice it helps us all doesn’t it? (Lisa)

14. Solar Panels
I think if people are seeing the solar panels on houses it makes you
think twice about, if you haven't got them yourself, it makes you
think twice about what you might be doing in terms of the
environment I think … And I think in this area you're going to appeal
more to people financially, especially when you move across to the
private estate, where there's quite a lot of money. (Bryn)
For this village it was a low risk enterprise, yes, it was safe and therefore,
you know, very good … this is their first foray into, what you might call,
environmentalism. And it’s built on an argument of investment that a lot
of them can understand. A lot of them are business people or they’ve been
in, you know, if they’re not business people themselves they’ve provided a
service, like they’ve been engineers or something within a business.
(Jonathan)

15. Cyswllt Peterston Connect
I don't want them to be in people’s faces but I think they should project
themselves more and a little bit more forcibly within the village … I don't
think their information gets out and about enough basically, whether it’s
written or whatever and suggested they consider a website and various
things like that … a lot of people who will say, 'You don't tell me what's
happening' but yet don't listen or don't seek the information, so I think if
they got a little bit more involved, in a positive fashion, then they would
achieve a lot more as well. (Ralph)
I would say they don't really kind of publicise themselves that
much. I think if they did a bit more publishing and 'we're here!'
maybe they would get more of a response but I think a lot of
people know what they are but are quite open to it. (Martin)

16. Future Events
Project exhibition – Spring 2014
• Interactive public exhibition using materials from
our own and other related projects
• Location in Cardiff and London
www.energybiographies.org