(3) Has been using the system over a year. A screening of Internet forums was used for finding and selecting suitable persons for long interviews. The forums used were ilmalampopumput.info (discussion on usage experiences section) and ilmaisener gia.info (discussion on solar thermal general and own projects section). Analysis is based on triangulation of data sets from forums, interviews and observations. One user visit, observation, was carried out in northern Finland.

4

DOMESTICATION PROCESSES OF RENEWA- BLE ENERGY SYSTEMS

4.1

Appropriation

Why are the consumers bothering with their own energy production when there is a countrywid e grid available and energy can simply be taken from a plug on a wall? There is motivation to save in energy cost, but surprisingly often a reason for renewable energy investments was convenience or easier use energy system. Combining renewable energy technologies with existing systems can make system use more convenient overall or help only in some parts of the year. User of wood pellet heating was satisfied to old system configuration on wintertime, but summer time solar thermal collector takes over and provides free energy without any maintenanc e and make energy provision very convenient. According previous studies people who manifest strong environmental concerns have strong motivations to set up small-scale production plants [25]. In this study sustainability was not among main reasons to install renewable energy technology. For rather special and niche type of technology that is not widely adopted, such as solar thermal collectors or Solar PV in Palm and Tengvard study, people stress more environmental concern as motivation. Different motivations and reasons associated with selecting renewable energy technology for domestic use can be recognized especially between permanent residence and temporary summer cottage. For adults primitive summer cottage con ditions can be wel l thought choice . In Finland summer cottage conditions can be rather primitive, but this makes possible sensuously rich experience [26 ]. For teenager s living wi thout elect ricity can be annoyance and balance is sought: « When twins were teenagers, they wanted to have television in the summer cottage and solar panel was then installed. Late r on I installed also wind generator to extend power availability for darker period on autumn (summer cottage 1) ». Electricity availability is significant upgrade and brings possibility to add new appliance s to summer cottage. However meaning of technology changes over time. For example a summer cottage wind generator user described how television for kids lost significance when they were not visiting the place, and new activities and needs took over. Charging a mobile phone became the most important utility electricity can do. Cost saving motivation was present in this case only via alternative cost of providing electricity. Grid can be extended to new locations, but connection fee is high and with own renewable energy productio n the cost can be avoided .

4.2

Objectification and incorporation

All air heat pumps and two solar thermal collectors and one wind generator case was installed by services companies. One solar thermal collector and Micro-wind station was an self-installation .

Installation o f the system

In air heat pump cases placing of both internal and external unit required careful consideration. Noise and wintertime ice forming put requirements for external unit location. In countryside even insignificant metallic industrial noise can be considered annoying. Although units are relatively large, when asked, users said not to be bothered of aesthetics but at the same time they describe how they covered external unit with a hut. In a similar way, solar thermal system has both internal and external parts. Solar collectors are installed on the roof on south or west side and unit is not visible internally in the house. With larger roof renovati on embedding of collector is easy and flat collector becomes almost invisible. But even in most typical installation, where collectors are clearly visible on the roof, solar collectors on roof were not considered disturbi ng. Good wind conditions are basic requirement in selection of wind station location. Area should be open, preferable from all directions. In principle higher the installation tower, better the wind condition is, but in real environment there are many factors that should be taken into considerations. « Initially it was one block higher, but I removed 1 meter. I noticed that trees have fewer branches down here. I have also removed some branches (Summer cottage 1) ».

Local adap tations

The interviews reveal how people do small modifications to the systems. Following three cases are examples of Table 1: Energy systems at case houses Interviewee Energy systems installed Householder 1 AHP, electrical heating Householder 2 AHP, electrical heating Householder 3 AHP, oil Householder 4 Wood pellets, STC, oil Householder 5 STC, oil Householder 6 STC, wood stove, AHP Summer cottage 1 WS, PV solar Summer cottage 2 WS, AHP, electrical heating