# Unboxing Buildings: Engaging with Occupants during Design, Testing and Use
## 3 Three Examples from Interdisciplinary Norwegian Building Research
### Switching Energy Systems in a Housing Cooperative  
The Norwegian housing cooperative is located in Trondheim, was built in the 1970s, and has 1113 apartments, organized as two-story apartment buildings and row houses The economic status and cultural background of the residents is various, as such the cooperative represents a broad section of society. Each apartment pays a set price for energy to the housing cooperative covering heating and hot water supplied by district heating. The price is independent of the size of the apartment or household. Residents have little influence on how heat or hot water is supplied or responsibility for regulating how much they use. After 50 years of use, the system offers an inefficient heat supply and leaking pipes have caused some water damage. A short three-month preliminary project that did not involve occupants or households analyzed the potential costs for customers and the socio-economic cost of changes to the energy supply system. Two scenarios were proposed, (1) upgrading the existing district heating system, (2) all-electric, including panel heaters, hot water tanks and an automatic control system for load management in each apartment. In addition, the potential barriers to the decision-making process were studied by one of the authors. The analyses found that the all-electric scenario is the most cost effective for individual homes and the energy supply to the housing estate [23]. Upgrading the existing district heating will require new heating systems and pipes in each apartment and the improvement to the infrastructure connecting apartment blocks. Replacing district heating with an electric system for hot water and heating would mean installing new panel heaters and hot water tanks, but otherwise the infrastructure is already in place. The old district heating system outside the apartments could be left underground. The meta-analysis focuses on the consequences of not including occupant representatives from the 1113 apartments in an experiment intended to gather information about the impact on households of installing a new energy supply system. The housing cooperative administration (HCA) decided that more information about household energy consumption was needed before plans for an all-electric system in apartments were presented to the 1113 households. An experiment was proposed which included the installation of equipment to measure energy consumption in eight households in a two-story apartment building. Energy use associated with three different energy supply systems was to be tracked (the existing district heating system, a hybrid system, and an all-electrical system) over a one-year period. Follow-up of households associated with the apartment building experiment using a series of semi-structured interviews was proposed but was cancelled a month before start by the HCA and the consulting engineers (CE). They stated that interviews would be intrusive and influence the behavior of occupants. \"It is important that the researchers do not create thoughts or attitudes in advance of the experiment--which can make the residents change consumption patterns because they think that they should. Behavioral changes must come naturally. You cannot ask about something they do not have the prerequisites to answer--then you create attitudes that influence the behavior.\" A CE representative. Energy practices are often established, based on long-term household routines [31; 32; 33]. It is unlikely that the cancelled semi-structured interviews would have had a long-term effect. However, the proposed changes to the energy supply system will have implications for 1113 households. Pre-existing energy routines and comfort requirements (how homes are heated, how much hot water is used and engaging with a new billing system) could hinder efficient use of an all-electric system after installation. Occupants will require support during the transition.