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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14653 |
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| _version_ | 1866912436520484864 |
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| author | Bremer, Christina Gujral, Harshit Lin, Michelle Hinkers, Lily Becker, Christoph Coroamă, Vlad C. |
| author_facet | Bremer, Christina Gujral, Harshit Lin, Michelle Hinkers, Lily Becker, Christoph Coroamă, Vlad C. |
| contents | As part of global climate action, digital technologies are seen as a key enabler of energy efficiency savings. A popular application domain for this work is smart homes. There is a risk, however, that these efficiency gains result in rebound effects, which reduce or even overcompensate the savings. Rebound effects are well-established in economics, but it is less clear whether they also inform smart energy research in other disciplines. In this paper, we ask: to what extent have rebound effects and their underlying mechanisms been considered in computing, HCI and smart home research? To answer this, we conducted a literature mapping drawing on four scientific databases and a SIGCHI corpus. Our results reveal limited consideration of rebound effects and significant opportunities for HCI to advance this topic. We conclude with a taxonomy of actions for HCI to address rebound effects and help determine the viability of energy efficiency projects. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_14653 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | How Viable are Energy Savings in Smart Homes? A Call to Embrace Rebound Effects in Sustainable HCI Bremer, Christina Gujral, Harshit Lin, Michelle Hinkers, Lily Becker, Christoph Coroamă, Vlad C. Human-Computer Interaction As part of global climate action, digital technologies are seen as a key enabler of energy efficiency savings. A popular application domain for this work is smart homes. There is a risk, however, that these efficiency gains result in rebound effects, which reduce or even overcompensate the savings. Rebound effects are well-established in economics, but it is less clear whether they also inform smart energy research in other disciplines. In this paper, we ask: to what extent have rebound effects and their underlying mechanisms been considered in computing, HCI and smart home research? To answer this, we conducted a literature mapping drawing on four scientific databases and a SIGCHI corpus. Our results reveal limited consideration of rebound effects and significant opportunities for HCI to advance this topic. We conclude with a taxonomy of actions for HCI to address rebound effects and help determine the viability of energy efficiency projects. |
| title | How Viable are Energy Savings in Smart Homes? A Call to Embrace Rebound Effects in Sustainable HCI |
| topic | Human-Computer Interaction |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14653 |