Book your place. 

The way we heat our homes touches so many aspects of our present and future lives, not least because it is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions. Access to affordable warmth affects health, wellbeing, social and economic inclusion but our relationship with heating extends beyond the practical: it shapes relationships, emotions and aesthetics within the household, the rhythms of daily domestic life, our feelings about the home, the family and the place we live.

On Wednesday 7 February, Professor Aimee Ambrose invites you into three different homes to explore our entanglements with home heating, from practical, social, cultural and emotional perspectives:

• The coal-powered home: coal is king and the fire or range is a powerful actor within the household in this Rotherham home from the 1950s.

• The house of invisible heat: occupants feel lukewarm about the tepid warmth of this gas centrally heated home, built from a composition of homes from the 1980s.

• The low-energy home: occupants grapple practically and emotionally with unfamiliar systems in purpose built ‘eco-homes’ built between 1997-2011. 

Visiting these homes will help us to understand how we can create a shift towards culturally and socially acceptable alternatives to fossil-fuel heating.