Energy burden and the meaning and making of home

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Anthropologists and social scientists have long recognized the importance of home for generating well-being. It is well known that structures and functions of homes are easily disrupted by material, infrastructural, and social shortfalls, yet precisely how this arises remains unclear. This project investigates the significance of severe energy burden (spending a disproportionate share of annual income on energy costs) in affecting how people conceptualize and make homes. It asks how low-income people accommodate high energy bills and how energy burden impacts the ability to meet their basic needs, as well as those of individuals with whom they share a home. The project contributes to anthropological science by modeling the varied roles that energy plays in producing human habitats, sociality, and social differentiation. The project generates a range of broader impacts, including student training in anthropological research methods, community employment opportunities, impacts on energy policy, and increased public understanding of utility operations and regulation. Results are broadly disseminated to academic and non-academic audiences.The project consists of ethnographic, archival, and qualitative research over a period of three years. It centers on several questions: (1) How do low-income people use domestic energy and how do they understand the role of energy in making homes? (2) How does energy help and hinder people in meeting their basic needs? (3) What histories, issues, and factors shape energy affordability? And (4) how do utility politics and regulation impact low-income people’s ability to pay electric bills? What consequences does this have for their welfare, individually, societally, and in relation to others in their homes? Methods include archival analysis of energy policies, media analysis, ecological momentary analysis of daily behavior and experiences with energy and utilities, key stakeholder interviews, and media analysis. Results will shape how scientists understand the complex interplay among material structures, institutional and energy infrastructures, and social subsistence strategies for homemaking and family welfare.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.