The Pink elephant in the room: the materiality, networks and conditions of home insulation
Creators: name: Padilla Gil, Hector Manuel
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 330404
subject: Land use and environmental planning

description: Understanding the contextual factors that shape the propagation of insulation retrofit services for the existing housing stock is essential for developing effective low carbon housing policies and programs.

Globally, the residential sector accounts for 22 per cent of energy consumption and 17 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, residential retrofit is critical for a transition to a low-carbon future. There is growing international pressure to address carbon emissions from the residential sector by retrofitting existing buildings. Improving the thermal performance of a dwelling envelope is an important part of retrofit. Despite the benefits of
improving thermal performance, there is a significant portion of energy-inefficient houses with poor thermal performance around the world.

Propagating thermal insulation is important for addressing low-carbon transition and improving the thermal performance of existing dwellings. Research has found that ceiling and wall insulation retrofit can be a cost-effective measure that provides environmental, social and economic benefits to households. Over recent years, government and industry support in various jurisdictions has been increasing to encourage residential retrofit. However, the propagation of retrofits remains lower than expected by policymakers, governments and civil society.

Academic literature has attempted to explain the low propagation of retrofits with sociotechnical explanations of the propagation of retrofits by focusing mainly on weather, market, and technical explanations. This thesis interrogates socio-technical circumstances and finds limitations in dominant understandings, which are based solely on economic and policy frames that focus on market, costs and choices. Yet, the broader framing of
materiality, networks and conditions associated with installing insulation has been overlooked. Often, ceiling and wall insulation is viewed as part of a broader package or phenomenon of retrofit.

Given the limited evidence available on the role of materiality and the socio-technical networks of delivery, this research remains open to different socio-technical characteristics. As such, this thesis aims to answer the question: How do socio-technical relations (materiality, networks and conditions) shape the propagation of home insulation? This question is addressed by looking at the materiality, networks and conditions that shape the propagation of retrofits. The research looks at the Victorian case primarily and brings the English context into this research to deepen understandings of the slow growth of the
propagation of insulation in Victoria.

This research employs actor network theory (ANT) to address the research gap. ANT is an appropriate conceptual framework to look at the propagation of retrofits because it provides new explanations for the propagation of insulation materials by framing the delivery of insulation as a socio-material event. Its radical focus on relationships and nonhumans provides conceptual tools that highlight the way socio-materiality initiatives affect the propagation of insulation.

This research data consisted of thirty-five semi-structured Interviews (22 in Victoria, Australia, 13 in England) with two groups of participants: firstly, business owners, subcontractors and installers working directly with insulation material, and secondly, participants with experience working in managerial and administrative experience, such as policymakers, program managers, academics, and activists. Their responses were analysed using thematic analysis and a network mapping method. Their experiences explain how insulation materials are key actors that shape the delivery processes of insulation but also
how the relationships between different actors are limited due to socio-technical conditions.

The findings of the research are discussed in terms of the strategic implications for further propagation of insulation materials in the residential stock. The retrofit industry operates within the new building structure of retrofits, and this is impacting training and the stability of installers. Additionally, this thesis found that the materiality of insulation revealed that insulation measures have acquired a perception of risk that does not match the organisational risk of installing retrofit. The previous Housing Insulation Policy enacted by the Australian Government led to insulation retrofit measures being perceived as risky.
Policymakers and industry organisations showed that this risk slowed down their ability to propagate insulation programs, whereas business owners did not perceive insulation measures as being as reputationally risky as policymakers did. Additionally, this research found that retrofit insulation installers do not last in their job and do not develop stable relationships with other actors. Thus, installers' skills in installing insulation are compromised.

These empirical findings also provide insights into ways of doing research on renovations and on the application of Actor Network Theory. This research finds that Actor Network Theory has the capacity to highlight material characteristics of insulation products and its role in social processes. Additionally, the findings suggest that a relational approach provided by actor network theory can highlight how installers and business owners fail to develop ongoing relationships.

The findings of the research have implications for policy and it is possible to speculate upon those implications as follows This research recommends supporting the installers’ capacity to work with different insulation materials through cross-material training. This can be done by developing training modules in warehouses where different materials are delivered, and manufacturers' agendas are not as influential. Additionally, this research recommends
acknowledging the perceived risk of insulation retrofitting in Victoria and recommends policymakers and program managers promote programs based on health and comfort benefits.