Anneli Selvefors | RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) (original) (raw)

Papers by Anneli Selvefors

Journal of Cleaner Production

The discussion regarding product circularity is often framed from a production and business model... more The discussion regarding product circularity is often framed from a production and business model perspective. In this paper, people's consumption processes are taken as a new point of departure and a re-framing of product circularity from a user perspective is proposed to complement the current narrative. This user-centred perspective emphasises the importance of product exchange, which underscores that products can be transferred in tight loops from one user to another, i.e. from Use to Use. It also highlights a number of challenges and practicalities that circular paths of consumption may entail for people in everyday life, and thus points to new opportunities for designing products and services that can create enabling preconditions that make it possible, more convenient, and more preferable for people to circulate products. These design opportunities can be categorised into four design strategies that can support the development of products and services fit for circular consumption processes. How the proposed reframing compares to the current narrative is discussed and recommendations for future research are proposed.

J. of Design Research

This paper explores how the design of domestic appliances influences people's energy use during e... more This paper explores how the design of domestic appliances influences people's energy use during everyday activities. Drawing on findings from an interview study with 81 informants, a variety of design characteristics were uncovered, which set preconditions for use that in different ways impede or support energy conservation. The identified characteristics concerned not only appliances' operative functions but also their interactive and communicative functions as well as people's underlying motives for using specific appliances. Addressing the full range of characteristics during the development of new appliances will highlight a variety of design opportunities 44 A. Selvefors et al. and increase the possibilities for developing appliances that support people to go about their everyday activities in less energy-reliant ways.

Understanding Energy behaviour-A Necessity for supporting Domestic Energy conservation through De... more Understanding Energy behaviour-A Necessity for supporting Domestic Energy conservation through Design Anneli selvefors department of product and production development division design & human factors chalmers University of Technology domestic energy consumption is continuing to increase and the need to decrease consumption is growing more evident. in this research, two studies were conducted to further the understanding of domestic energy behaviour and increase the knowledge of how energy conservation can be supported. The first study was carried out as an interview study to explore both factors that influence people's energy behaviour and strategies people currently have adopted for reducing consumption. The second study was a field trial that assessed the extent to which an energy feedback system could support households in reducing their consumption. The findings show that many different factors, i.e., factors related to the person, the activity, and the society, influence people's domestic energy behaviour as well as their engagement in reducing their energy consumption. as these factors collectively set the preconditions for people's energy behaviour, it is vital to take into account the interconnection of the different factors when aiming to support energy conservation. for systems and products to be successful in supporting energy conservation, they need to match the preconditions in a way that enables people to reduce consumption while still satisfying their everyday needs and goals. as this research have indicated, energy feedback systems can support motivated people who have the ability and possibility to reduce consumption, but will be a less successful support system for people whose consumption is governed by preconditions that they cannot, or will not, change. a holistic understanding of people's preconditions and their energy related activities is thus required in order to develop successful products, services, and systems that enable, facilitate, or encourage more people to reduce their domestic energy consumption.

Lcm 2013, Jun 28, 2013

One approach to further decrease the environmental impact of products is to target the use phase.... more One approach to further decrease the environmental impact of products is to target the use phase. According to the Design for Sustainable Behaviour approach different design strategies can be used to enable a more sustainable use of products by influencing the user's behaviour. The strategies suggested include matching products to users' current behaviours, enlightening users, spurring or steering the users towards more sustainable behaviours, and applying a force dimension to the products. Empirical studies demonstrate the feasibility of different strategies. However further knowledge is needed on which strategies to apply in which situations and for what problems.

Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019

The discussion regarding product circularity is often framed from a production and business model... more The discussion regarding product circularity is often framed from a production and business model perspective. In this paper, people's consumption processes are taken as a new point of departure and a
re-framing of product circularity from a user perspective is proposed to complement the current narrative. This user-centred perspective emphasises the importance of product exchange, which underscores
that products can be transferred in tight loops from one user to another, i.e. from Use to Use. It also highlights a number of challenges and practicalities that circular paths of consumption may entail for people in everyday life, and thus points to new opportunities for designing products and services that can create enabling preconditions that make it possible, more convenient, and more preferable for people to circulate products. These design opportunities can be categorised into four design strategies that can support the development of products and services fit for circular consumption processes. How the proposed reframing compares to the current narrative is discussed and recommendations for future
research are proposed.

This paper proposes a categorisation of artefact-related aspects that in different ways set peopl... more This paper proposes a categorisation of artefact-related aspects that in different ways set people’s preconditions for acting with technology. The categorisation can serve as a starting point for discussing which aspects are relevant to consider from a Design for Sustainable Behaviour perspective. The categorisation sorts these aspects into different layers: from the over-arching layer of enabled activity, through artefact type(s), operative functions, interactive functions, and finally communicative functions. Using examples from research studies, and a selection of theory and methods, we argue for an increased focus on all artefact- related aspects. Moreover, it is essential to move between layers to ensure a consistent design that in every layer provides preconditions for sustainable behaviour. The paper also discusses benefits of redesigning the artefacts people use in their everyday activities, instead of designing artefacts that stimulate new types of conservation activities.

Proceedings of the 2011 Conference on Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces - DPPI '11, 2011

It has been well debated if user centred design, UCD, can actually lead to innovation. This paper... more It has been well debated if user centred design, UCD, can actually lead to innovation. This paper discusses the case of sustainable innovation, specifically addressing the development of solutions to influence users' resource consumption behaviour. The approach presented, suggests how knowledge on user actions and habits in a resource consumption situation can be used in the product development process in

International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 2015

The aim of this paper is to chart different paths that users can follow to reduce the environment... more The aim of this paper is to chart different paths that users can follow to reduce the environmental impact that occurs during the use of an artefact. Through comparing sustainable behaviours found in own studies and literature, five pathways of sustainable behaviour were identified: Changed use, Mediated use, Regulated artefact, Maintenance and repair, and Choice of artefact. In Path 1 the user starts using an artefact in a more sustainable way. In Path 2 the user invests in a secondary artefact to mediate the use of a primary artefact. In Path 3 the users invest in an artefact that regulate a primary artefacts’ resource use. In Path 4 the user maintains an artefact in good condition and in Path 5 the user invests in an artefact that offers less resource consumption by default.

A common approach for understanding people’s domestic energy behavior is to study the influence o... more A common approach for understanding people’s domestic energy behavior is to study the influence of deterministic factors, such as attitudes, norms and knowledge, on behavior. However, few studies have succeeded in fully explaining people’s behavior based on these factors alone. To further the understanding of people’s everyday energy use, a goal-oriented approach based on activity theory has been applied to discuss energy conservation from a multiple goal perspective based on the findings from an interview study with 42 informants. The findings show that the informants used energy to fulfill goals linked to basic needs or desires related to their well-being. Even though the majority of informants had an explicit goal to reduce their energy consumption, many experienced conflicts with other competing goals, which often made energy conservation undesirable or challenging. The findings suggest that actions to reduce energy use will most often not be prioritized if they cannot be integrated into people’s daily life without jeopardizing their possibilities to achieve their primary goals and satisfy their everyday needs. It is thus vital to consider people’s everyday life and the many conflicts they experience when aiming to understand why people do, or do not, prioritize energy conservation during everyday activities.

Thesis for the Degree of Licentiate of Engineering. , Jun 12, 2014

Domestic energy consumption is continuing to increase and the need to decrease consumption is gro... more Domestic energy consumption is continuing to increase and the need to decrease consumption is growing more evident. In this research, two studies were conducted to further the understanding of domestic energy behaviour and increase the knowledge of how energy conservation can be supported. The first study was carried out as an interview study to explore both factors that influence people’s energy behaviour and strategies people currently have adopted for reducing consumption. The second study was a field trial that assessed the extent to which an energy feedback system could support households in reducing their consumption. The findings show that many different factors, i.e., factors related to the person, the activity, and the society, influence people’s domestic energy behaviour as well as their engagement in reducing their energy consumption. As these factors collectively set the preconditions for people’s energy behaviour, it is vital to take into account the interconnection of the different factors when aiming to support energy conservation. For systems and products to be successful in supporting energy conservation, they need to match the preconditions in a way that enables people to reduce consumption while still satisfying their everyday needs and goals. As this research have indicated, energy feedback systems can support motivated people who have the ability and possibility to reduce consumption, but will be a less successful support system for people whose consumption is governed by preconditions that they cannot, or will not, change. A holistic understanding of people’s preconditions and their energy related activities is thus required in order to develop successful products, services, and systems that enable, facilitate, or encourage more people to reduce their domestic energy consumption.

International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, Jan 27, 2015

To advance the area of design for sustainable behaviour (DfSB), a common behaviour terminology is... more To advance the area of design for sustainable behaviour (DfSB), a common behaviour terminology is needed to enable comparisons of studies across application areas. Thus, the map of pathways of sustainable behaviour was created with the aim of charting different paths that users can follow to reduce environmental impact when interacting with artefacts. The construction of the map results from a comparative analysis of sustainable behaviours identified in previous studies in conjunction with a review of existing behaviour classifications. The proposed map of pathways gives a comprehensive overview of all artefact-related resource-consuming usage behaviours, organised according to a design perspective and divided with regard to aspects of use and obtainment, primary and secondary artefact, duration and type of effort. Through design, the user can be encouraged to take any of the five identified paths: choice of artefact, changed use, maintenance and repair, mediated use and regulated artefact. Using the map in a DfSB process can guide the exploration phase and highlight potential design opportunities when choosing target behaviour. If adopted by the DfSB community, the united typology of the map also provides means necessary to make rigorous comparisons and develop the field and its tools.

Proceedings from the IASDR Conference 2013, Consilience and Innovation in Design, 24-30 August 2013, Tokyo. s. 1771-1782. , 2013

Feedback is considered as one of the most effective ways to increase people’s awareness of energy... more Feedback is considered as one of the most effective ways to increase people’s awareness of energy
consumption. Literature commonly indicates that energy savings between 5-12% can be attained
when households get feedback on their consumption. However, to assess the actual saving potential
of energy feedback systems it is essential to investigate if, and how, people use the systems – if
they adopt them into their everyday life. This paper presents findings from a six-months field study
in which 23 households were given online feedback on their consumption. The purposes of the
study were to evaluate (i) the effects of interactive energy feedback on the households’ electricity
consumption and (ii) the extent to which they used the feedback web portal. In general, the
participants were positive but the use of the portal was low, the dropout rate high and most
households did not decrease their energy consumption. However, six highly motivated households
used the portal frequently and decreased their consumption. The findings suggest that access to
energy feedback does not per se make people utilize the information. However, if motivated people
use energy feedback systems frequently it can increase their awareness and support energy
conservation.

Proceedings of the ERSCP-EMSU 2013 conference, 16th Conference of the European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ERSCP) & 7th Conference of the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU), 4 – 7 June 2013, Istanbul, Turkey., 2013

To assess the effects and benefits of computerized energy feedback, an interactive energy feedbac... more To assess the effects and benefits of computerized energy feedback, an interactive energy feedback system was implemented in 23 households and evaluated in a six-months field study. No electricity savings could be observed for the households when comparing their consumption during the test period to the consumption during the previous year. However, the use of the web portal was found to vary considerably between individual households and a correlation between use-frequency and electricity savings was observed. The five households that accessed the feedback frequently managed to reduce their electricity consumption by an average of 9% over the test period. Furthermore, many households indicated, regardlessly of their use-frequency, that they experienced positive effects of using the web portal. Some specifically expressed an increased knowledge and awareness, which to some degree empowered them to reduce their consumption and change behaviour. The findings however suggest that many aspects such as contextual factors, personal capabilities and quality of life aspects influence households’ energy consumption and that access to feedback does not per se lead to savings. However, people that utilize the feedback information and are willing and capable of changing their situation can reduce their consumption and gain additional benefits that support energy conservation.

Proceedings of Sustainable Innovation 2012, Towards Sustainable Product Design: 17th International Conference. s. 242-249. Alanus University, Bonn, Germany. , Oct 29, 2012

The research field of Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB) suggests strategies for promoting m... more The research field of Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB) suggests strategies for promoting more sustainable use of products. The DfSB methodology thus provides opportunities for companies to further reduce their products' environmental impact and differentiate on the market, still DfSB is not yet systematically applied in industry. This paper highlights benefits and difficulties that companies face when applying design strategies for sustainable behaviour in the product development process. A master thesis project at Electrolux is used as a basis for discussion. In summary, besides the environmental gains, DfSB can spur innovations that fit users' implicit needs and thus create potential for increased profitability. Nevertheless, companies need to extend their competence within DfSB and methodologies that facilitate the implementation of DfSB in companies' current product development processes should be developed.

Proceedings of the 2011 …, 2011

Proceedings of the …, 2011

Recently, new market demands and customer expectations have forced companies to expand their comm... more Recently, new market demands and customer expectations have forced companies to expand their commitment to sustainability and to offer new eco-friendly solutions. It is therefore of increasing importance for companies to expand their product portfolio with ...

Journal of Cleaner Production

J. of Design Research

Lcm 2013, Jun 28, 2013

Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019

The discussion regarding product circularity is often framed from a production and business model... more The discussion regarding product circularity is often framed from a production and business model perspective. In this paper, people's consumption processes are taken as a new point of departure and a
re-framing of product circularity from a user perspective is proposed to complement the current narrative. This user-centred perspective emphasises the importance of product exchange, which underscores
that products can be transferred in tight loops from one user to another, i.e. from Use to Use. It also highlights a number of challenges and practicalities that circular paths of consumption may entail for people in everyday life, and thus points to new opportunities for designing products and services that can create enabling preconditions that make it possible, more convenient, and more preferable for people to circulate products. These design opportunities can be categorised into four design strategies that can support the development of products and services fit for circular consumption processes. How the proposed reframing compares to the current narrative is discussed and recommendations for future
research are proposed.

Proceedings of the 2011 Conference on Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces - DPPI '11, 2011

International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 2015

Thesis for the Degree of Licentiate of Engineering. , Jun 12, 2014

International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, Jan 27, 2015

Proceedings from the IASDR Conference 2013, Consilience and Innovation in Design, 24-30 August 2013, Tokyo. s. 1771-1782. , 2013

Proceedings of Sustainable Innovation 2012, Towards Sustainable Product Design: 17th International Conference. s. 242-249. Alanus University, Bonn, Germany. , Oct 29, 2012

Proceedings of the 2011 …, 2011

Proceedings of the …, 2011

This thesis addresses challenges and opportunities for product design to contribute to domestic e... more This thesis addresses challenges and opportunities for product design to contribute to domestic energy conservation. The overall aim of the thesis is that of increasing the understanding of people’s energy use and their use of energy-reliant artefacts in the everyday in order to propose ways of supporting energy conservation through design. Two main themes are explored within its scope: how people’s doings in everyday life influence energy use and how energy-reliant artefacts designed to support energy conservation influence energy use.

Material from four empirical studies has been used to address the themes and discuss implications for design practice. Study A investigated how people’s possession and use of appliances influenced energy use and Study B explored people’s energy use and approach to energy conservation from the perspective of everyday activities. Studies C and D investigated how artefacts designed to support energy conservation may influence energy use through evaluations of an energy feedback system and kitchen appliances designed to mediate less energy-intensive use, respectively.

A cross-study analysis shows that people’s energy use is embedded in the web of activities that make up everyday life and suggests that the design of energy-reliant artefacts mediates the actions and outcomes of those activities. Depending on their overall design, design characteristics, and their fit with the activity that is enabled, energy-reliant artefacts may either facilitate energy conservation or make less energy-intensive use challenging or undesirable. For instance, if artefacts are not easily understandable and easy to use, and if they do not provide suitable functions that enable people to use them effectively for a particular purpose, they risk being rejected or used in an energy-intensive way. The findings thus suggest that artefacts designed with one or more functions aimed to motivate or encourage people to reduce their energy use, commonly referred to as design interventions in literature, risk impeding energy conservation if they do not support energy conservation as a whole. To increase the potential for artefacts to support energy conservation, it is crucial to design suitable and relevant artefacts that provide for less energy-reliant everyday activities and that make it possible and desirable for people to meet their needs and attain their goals in less energy-intensive ways. If less energy-intensive use is only encouraged, but is not enabled and mediated, it will be difficult for people that do not have the preconditions to use less energy to actually reduce their energy use.

This thesis therefore argues for moving beyond design interventions and instead designing for less energy-reliant activities by holistically considering the preconditions and design characteristics that functions on all layers of design may give rise to. Such an approach has the potential to reduce mismatches between the design of an artefact and the activity enabled, which in turn may increase the potential for artefacts to be used in less-energy-intensive ways and be adopted long term. In conclusion, the thesis provides new insights into the way in which people’s activities and use of artefacts influence energy use and highlights opportunities for design practitioners to create preconditions for less energy-reliant activities in the everyday.