Empathy Led Innovation

How can empathy help us understand energy innovation? a lens on the energy retail market.

Marketers know this innately, social theory could explain why*.

Instead of being rational, means-ends calculating individuals (basically wet computers), we instead act in the world based on cultural norms, ideologies and social relations. This means when we enter a market we are optimising for the stories we tell ourselves not the best price for the individual commodity we are buying that day.

Some people choose the whizzy deal that can make smart homes dance to the tune of green energy and price signals because it FEELS good, others choose the bog standard tariff that just keeps the lights on because that FEELS right for them.

There is not a linear adoption curve for smart energy services like heat, batteries, solar, EV's etc. Instead there is a limited group that has a compatible relational 'package' where those objects and relationships re-enforce their story of themselves and their social 'in group' as tech optimistic future facing, global citizens.

To break out of this limited group we need energy innovation that does more than 'extend the benefits' of this storyline to other groups. Spoiler alert, these groups are unable to hear that story.

Instead we need to empathise with the relational packages built by diverse social groups and design responses which fit those storylines.

Empathy might be as important to NetZero and a Just Transition as more technical innovation.

We have been evolving relational approaches to energy with Lucie Middlemiss- Mark Davis Anne Owen Ruth Bookbinder, PhD Donal Brown, Matthew Hannon, Iain Cairns, Marie Claire Brisbois, and Giulia Mininni