USES, RESISTANCES AND ACCEPTANCE OF EMERGENT HOUSEHOLD ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES The case of the wood-burning stove exchange program in Temuco, Chile

During recent years, there has been a growing sociological interest for studying transitions to pro-environmental energy systems. Against this backdrop, this article presents the main empirical findings of a case study that qualitatively addresses a policy of replacing stoves in the City of Temuco, Chile. The article uses two complementary theoretical approaches, the Multilevel perspective (MLP) and the Theory of Social Practices (TPS) to describe the existence of lock-in mechanisms for sustainable transition processes, both at institutional level and at the level of social practices through which heating is organized. The articles relies on 23 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders of an stove replacement process and 23 participant observation exercises aimed at describing the heating practices of Temuco households. Based on this evidence, the paper reinforce the need to address different theoretical lenses in order to better account for the different scales and actors that constitute energy transitions. Such an approach can facilitate greater sensitivity to the difficulties that constitute pro environmental energy transition processes.