How can disabled people reduce their energy usage and bills when they need to use Assistive Technology?
Assistive technology (AT) - such as powered wheelchairs, stairlifts and specialist medical equipment - can play a vital role in helping disabled people live independently and participate fully in society. However, AT can also consume a significant amount of energy. This webinar, presented RiDC's research on the energy use of AT in the home and gave discussion of the ways that disabled people can make low-carbon decisions.
The event featured a presentation by Eric Harris, Director of Inclusive Research at RiDC and he was joined by Dr Rowanne Fleck, Lead User Researcher at Energy Systems Catapult and Caitlin Slough, Researcher at RiDC
Together, they discussed their research findings and gave insights into how disabled people use energy and could potentially reduce their consumption.
The event also included a panel discussion with the researchers looking at the challenges and opportunities for disabled people in making low-carbon decisions.
See the recording of the webinar here:
- Watch Eric's presentation at 4 minutes 51 seconds
- Watch Caitlin's presentation at 25 minutes 26 seconds
- Watch Rowanne's presentation at 40 minutes 20 seconds
- Watch the Question and Answer session at 1 hour and 7 minutes.
Download a transcript of the session (MS Word)
Presentations
We have also packaged up the three presentations from the webinar, which can be downloaded below:
Eric Harris (RiDC) Engaging With Low Carbon Options
Caitlin Slough (RiDC) Energy Monitoring of Assistive Technology
Rowanne Fleck (ESC) Discovering Disabled Consumers' Future Energy Needs
Research reports
You can download the reports that Eric, Caitlin and Rowanne talked about below:
Energy Monitoring of Assistive Technology (RiDC)
Engaging With Low Carbon Options (RiDC)
Discovering disabled consumers’ future energy needs (ESC)
Consumer Advice
RiDC has produced some consumer advice for disabled people on how to make low-carbon choices and energy use monitoring.
We would like to thank the Energy Savings Trust for funding this project. The funding was part of £2.2m in grants awarded under the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme,
