Socio-technical networks and the sad case of the condensing boiler

Nick Banks, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford

Keywords

Abstract

Actor-network theories and work on social construction of technological systems suggest the use of the concept of a socio-technical landscape (STL). This is a virtual space where symbolic, institutional, technical and economic properties of technological systems are woven seamlessly together. The resulting mapping of the gradients and features allows new ways of seeing our evolving interaction with the systems in which we are embedded. This paper applies these concepts in a discussion of the diffusion of condensing boiler technology. This innovative and proven design saves substantial amounts of energy yet its penetration into the homes of many European states remains pitiful. As such it remains a potentially important, but as yet unused, weapon in the struggle to heat our homes more sustainably. Interviews with the range of actors from builders and trades associations to heating installers and householders are used to map the general shape of its STL whilst quantitative survey analyses are used to characterise the steepness of the some of the gradients. Some tractable policy recommendations are set out in the context of the UK government’s attempts to increase the spread of condensing boiler technology.