Identifying and explaining framing strategies of low carbon lifestyle movement organisations

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Over the last decade we have seen the growth and development of low carbon lifestyle movement organisations, which seek to encourage members of the public to reduce their personal energy use and carbon emissions. As a first step to assess the transformational potential of such organisations, this paper examines the ways in which they frame their activities. This reveals an important challenge they face: in addressing the broader public, do they promote 'transformative' behaviours or do they limit themselves to encouraging 'easy changes' to maintain their appeal? We find evidence that many organisations within this movement avoid 'transformative' frames. The main reasons for this are organisers' perceptions that transformational frames lack resonance with broader audiences, as well as wider cultural contexts that caution against behavioural intervention. The analysis draws on interviews with key actors in the low carbon lifestyle movement and combines insights from the literatures on collective action framing and lifestyle movements.This research was supported by grant RES-628-25-0059 for the project “Community-based initiatives for energy saving” which is part of the RCUK Energy and Communities Programme and ESRC grant RES-595-28-0001 which funded the project “The Third Sector and the Environment” within the Third Sector Research Centre at the University of Southampton. We would like to thank Rebecca Edwards for collecting interview data on the “third sector” project, as well as our colleagues on the Energy and Communities project for their role in the wider project design, including Patrick James, Tom Rushby and Nicholas Woodman. We are also very grateful to our research participants without whom this research would not have been possible. All remaining weaknesses remain our responsibility

Domestic thermal upgrades, community action and energy saving: a three-year experimental study of prosperous households

A three-year field experiment was conducted with 185 prosperous households to assess whether behavioural interventions by a community environmental group during and after thermal upgrades (cavity wall and/or loft insulation) can achieve reductions in households’ energy use, including reductions in direct and indirect rebound. The engineering interventions on the thermal efficiency of dwellings appear effective in reducing energy use in both treatment and control groups: a direct rebound effect is estimated to be at most 40 per cent from the engineering interventions. However, across a range of measures of energy use, we observe no significant effect of the community behavioural intervention across the total lifetime of the project. Qualitative data collected on similar community groups suggests substantial constraints on their capacity to realise reductions in energy use amongst households

Spectroscopic studies on derivatives of aluminium borohydride

The assignment of group frequencies in the i.r. spectra of derivatives of aluminium borohydride has been made by the use of aluminium borodeuteride. Variations in the spectra with the change of ligand are discussed. The properties of the compounds in solutions have been studied using 1H n.m.r. spectroscopy, and data obtained over a range of temperature indicate that the 1 : 1 adducts with trimethylamine and trimethylphosphine dissociate in solution, and probably exist in equilibrium with both the 1 : 2 adducts, e.g. Al(BH4)3,2NMe3 and free aluminium borohydrid

Guidelines for Designing Social Robots as Second Language Tutors

In recent years, it has been suggested that social robots have potential as tutors and educators for both children and adults. While robots have been shown to be effective in teaching knowledge and skill-based topics, we wish to explore how social robots can be used to tutor a second language to young children. As language learning relies on situated, grounded and social learning, in which interaction and repeated practice are central, social robots hold promise as educational tools for supporting second language learning. This paper surveys the developmental psychology of second language learning and suggests an agenda to study how core concepts of second language learning can be taught by a social robot. It suggests guidelines for designing robot tutors based on observations of second language learning in human–human scenarios, various technical aspects and early studies regarding the effectiveness of social robots as second language tutors

Initial effects of a community-based initiative for energy saving: an experimental analysis

Can community-based behavioural intervention reduce energy use in the home? We report on initial data from an ongoing matched case and control field experiment on energy saving. Household energy use in 175 households is measured using monitoring equipment, recording electrical power consumption and temperature. Participants in treatment and control groups received improvements to the thermal insulation of their homes. A behavioural intervention in the treatment group began with a 2 hour workshop on energy saving led by a community-based environmental group. We find some evidence of reductions in electrical power over the period of analysis, compared to the estimated counterfactual, but no evidence of reduced spatial heating or baseload power. The data are consistent with a substantial effect lasting over 3 months, although this cannot be inferred with confidence because of high variance. We explore the policy implications of the finding that a relatively modest level of community intervention has potentially substantial impact on energy use