The ambivalences of experimental devices and the appropriation of Eco-Innovations in the Field of Energy

Résumé En

In the field of electricity demand management, studies and pilot projects in the residential sector conducted around the world on dynamic pricing, usage management or information devices borrow very heavily from the experimental approach. They mainly seek to measure in real and controlled situations with a set of households the effects, as well as their maintenance over time, of devices inciting behaviour change (flexibility-control of demand). Nevertheless, while seeking to neutralize the effects of engagement to ensure the objectivity of the experimental framework, project leaders are at the same time trying to encourage participants to be stakeholders in the results in order to accompany incentives for "behaviour changes". This tension models the trajectories of experiments that juxtapose various framings (random assignment evaluation, sociotechnical experiments, Proof of concept) in order to articulate objectification and commitment. The "trajectories" of the experiments are deeply related to the organization of the work that underlies them and to the cooperation within the collectives involved in their portage. The results they produce as well as the trajectories of diffusion are a reflection of these social and collaborative dynamics.