NETWORKS OF HEAT : AN ACTOR-NETWORK APPROACH TO HISTORICAL HEATING PATHWAYS IN THE UK Clare Hanmer Based on work carried out at University of Durham, supervised by Dr Simone Abram

Research questions How did central heating using gas boilers become so dominant in the UK (83% of homes)? What does historical experience suggest about the challenges faced by a shift from gas boilers to lower carbon heating (heat pumps and district heating)? ?

Methods /approaches applied Historical investigation Original interest in natural gas conversion ( ) Importance of earlier development of central heating technology Science and Technology Studies Multiple possibilities open at the time considered in context Actor network approach Linking people and technology

Actor Network Theory A group of approaches that have developed since the 1980s. Leading theorists include Bruno Latour, Michel Callon, Madeleine Akrich and John Law. “ Theories usually try to explain why something happens, but actor-network theory is descriptive.… it tells stories about ‘how’ relations assemble or don’t” Law (2007) Networks are heterogeneous, involving many types of actors (both human and non-human) exchanging a variety of intermediaries (money, information etc.). Equal significance is given to technology and human actors. The ANT approach does not aim to explain change, but rather to investigate how order and stability are sometimes achieved and ask how some networks resist dissociation.

Applying ANT to gas networks / home heating The heating system includes fuel supply infrastructure, equipment in the home and the people associated with these. Equipment, from the gas rig in the North Sea to the radiator in the home, is interwoven with social networks involving individual consumers, companies and governments. A chain of equipment, events and relationships have to be established for a heating system to emerge. Technology actants (such as boilers and pipework) play a key role in linking human actors (including both individual householders and organisations such as energy companies). I examined the networks using four main themes: buildings, equipment, fuel supply, socio- political (institutions, organisations, policy) Drawing on a heterogeneous range of primary sources including Ideal Home and Gas Showroom magazines, plumbing textbooks, government policy, gas industry archives, advertising films, professional journals.

Key ANT concepts Alignment: of the interests of a variety of actors, enrolling and mobilising allies so that they work together, strengthening the network (Callon 1986). Heterogeneous engineers: “seek to associate entities that range from people, through skills, to artefacts and natural phenomena” (Law 1989). Black boxes: “whose behaviour is known and predicted independently of its context” (Callon 1991). “Each actor in a convergent network is able to identify and mobilise the skills within the network without having to get involved in costly adaptation, translation or decoding” (Callon 1991).

Summary of findings - how did we get here? The initial expansion of central heating in the UK was based on alignment of new heating systems with the type of building in which many people lived, supported by changing expectations of thermal comfort. Initially not aligned with particular fuel. At beginning of 1960s coal was dominant fuel – about 80% of units sold, but by 1966 coal, gas and electricity each has 30% share. The introduction of a new fuel infrastructure for natural gas from North Sea led to alignment across buildings, heating systems, fuels and the associated social networks, forming an extremely stable network around gas fired central heating. For those with a gas grid connection the cheap and convenient fuel, heating system (boiler with radiators) and building are so strongly aligned that other options are very rarely considered.

ANT perspective on future heating transitions in the UK Need for alignment with buildings - split between DH and HPs Challenges of lack of familiarity in supply chain The two main low carbon alternatives radically alter utility business models. Widespread take-up of ASHPs would require major reinforcement of the electricity network, and offers an existential threat to the gas industry The current energy market split between supply and distribution, and emphasis on ability to switch energy suppliers at short notice, is not well aligned with the long term, integrated supply and distribution requirements for district heating schemes. High costs reflect the major reconfiguration of both social and physical networks needed to “build in” new heating options

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