Peer-reviewed article
Don't charge while you heat! The social potential for flexibility and coordination of energy-intensive technologies in single-family houses
2026Hiller, C., Brauer, H. B., Kania-Lundholm, M., Lundberg, E., & Olsson, T.Energy Policy
What is this study about?
More and more households use several energy-intensive technologies at the same time, such as an electric car and a heat pump. The study examines how households can adapt and coordinate their electricity use in order to reduce the load on the power grid and avoid high peak loads. The focus is not only on technical possibilities but on people's everyday lives: how routines, housing conditions, values, experiences and needs affect the possibilities of shifting or coordinating electricity use.
What did we find?
The results show that households have considerable potential to be flexible, particularly regarding when the electric car is charged. The flexibility around heating is less visible because warmth is often taken for granted. At the same time, the possibilities to adapt electricity use are shaped by the time frames of everyday life, geographical and material conditions, previous experiences and ideas about comfort and convenience. Care for family members can also limit flexibility. Coordinating, for example, the car's charging with the heating of the house is possible, but can be difficult for households to oversee and carry out in practice.
Why does it matter?
If electrification is to continue without creating unnecessarily large peak loads, new technology and economic price signals are not enough. The energy system also needs to take account of how people actually live and use the technology. The study therefore shows that measures to increase energy flexibility need to be designed on the basis of households' different conditions and make it easier to coordinate electricity use. Otherwise there is a risk that the opportunities to contribute to the energy transition will be unevenly distributed between households.
Citation
Hiller, C., Brauer, H. B., Kania-Lundholm, M., Lundberg, E., & Olsson, T. (2026) Don't charge while you heat! The social potential for flexibility and coordination of energy-intensive technologies in single-family houses. Energy Policy 210