Abstract:
In quantitative studies by SSB Norway, a rebound effect has been detected after households have installed a heat pump. In this paper we use an interview sample with 28 households to attempt to identify and interpret changes in practices that may have contributed to rebound in electricity consumption after a heat pump is taken into use. The results show that a comfort rebound effect (direct rebound) is at work in two specific senses. First, what we refer to as the temporal rebound occurs as people expand the time period in which they heat the home (both daily and seasonally). Second, we identified a spatial rebound as users expand the total space of the house heated after heat pumps are taken into use. We point to a general attitude among many of the respondents that these changing practices were justified because of their investments in and anticipated savings from the heat pump. Finally, we found that people did not keep a close accounting of money saved by the heat pump nor could they associate any particular investment or purchase with the