Exploring diverse drivers behind hybrid heating solutions

Hybrid heating provides the preparedness to react to external shocks such as volatile prices or electricity cuts. Wood plays a key role as the backbone of the system, especially in rural areas

Building on engrained heating routines in households can enhance societal resilience. Flexibility of use needs to be balanced with the careful consideration of environmental impacts

Stacking of heating modes to achieve thermal comfort and thermal delight, e.g. by having access to a fireplace

Heating technologies and ways of keeping warm are tightly connected. Skills and knowledge needed to operate complex systems. Care reflects emotional investment in heating. Thermal delight and environmental awareness can coexist in diverse settings

Thermal delight shapes engagement with heating modes and can help frame high-carbon modes as the supplementary and low-carbon modes as the primary, everyday solution

To retain the meaningful engagement individuals have with heating, heating transitions can build on the stacking of established activities with a focus on prioritising low-carbon modes

Stacked systems can mean a higher use of resources and negatively impact air quality if wood plays a key role

In the case of wood combustion, careful balancing between environmental drawbacks and gains in thermal comfort or delight are needed

Perceived limited personal impact on heating decisions, lack of financial resources to change heating system or to operate different systems in parallel

Cultivate several avenues for impact also in rented properties. Designing subsidy systems that also account for transitions using hybrid systems