Energianvändningen inom bostadssektorn har stadigt ökat och verkar inte minska trots energieffektiva apparater. Genom att bygga lågenergibostäder försöker bostadsbolagen minska energianvändningen, vilket också sker, men endast vad gäller uppvärmning och varmvatten. Syfte med avhandlingen är att öka kunskapen kring hushållens energianvändning i passivhus med fokus på hushållens aktiviteter. Intervjustudier har utförts med hushåll och bostadsbolag för att utröna hur de materiella förutsättningarna påverkar vardagsaktiviteter i hushållen. Utifrån tidsgeografiska begrepp analyseras några vardagliga hushållsprojekt: mathållning, klädvård och rekreation. Begreppet energiordning används för att påvisa hur aktiviteters genomförande påverkas av resurser, restriktioner och möjligheter av olika slag, inklusive elektricitet. Eftersom varje hushåll är unikt kommer också energiordningarna i hushållen att se olika ut vilket påverkar värmekomforten i bostaden. Passivhuskonceptet som sådant påverkar inte aktiviteterna i nämnvärd grad, men hushållen bevarar gärna den värme som uppstår i och med olika aktiviteter genom att öppna dörrar och ugnsluckor för att sprida värmen i bostaden. En slutsats från studien är att eftersom alla hushåll har unika energiordningar behöver också de materiella  resurserna anpassas så att olika handlingsalternativ blir möjliga. Genom att ta del av hushållens erfarenheter av olika energiordningar kan bostadsbolagen få tillgång till nya idéer och anpassa de materiella förutsättningarna till hushållens behov så att energieffektivt boende också inbegriper hushållens aktiviteter. / Energy use in the residential sector has gradually increased and does not seem to be decreasing in spite of energy efficient appliances. By building low energy homes, housing companies are trying to reduce energy use, and to some extent they are succeeding, although the reductions are confined to heating and hot water. The aim of the thesis is to increase knowledge about household energy use in passive houses focusing on household activities. Interviews were conducted with households and public housing companies to investigate how material conditions, such as the flats and the appliances, affect daily activities in the home. Based on time-geographic concepts, a few everyday household projects are analyzed: cooking, care of clothing and recreation. The concept of energy orders is used to show that the realization of activities is influenced by various kinds of resources, including electricity, and the constraints and opportunities related to them. Since each household is unique, the energy orders also look different, which has an influence on the thermal comfort in the home. The passive house concept as such does not affect household activities in a profound way, but the households try to preserve and spread the spill heat generated in various activities by opening doors to rooms and doors of appliances such as the oven to distribute the heat throughout the flat. One conclusion from the thesis is that, because all households have unique energy orders, material resources also need to be adapted so that activities can be performed in a variety of ways. By taking advantage of household experiences, housing companies may gain access to new ideas and improve functionality so that material conditions suit household needs. By taking advantage of household experiences, housing companies may gain access to new ideas and improve functionality so that material conditions in energy efficient housing are designed to suit a broad range of household needs.

Increased use of variable energy and integration of electricity markets in the European Union have led to new challenges when balancing supply and demand in the grid. Load management is a possible way to manage these challenges by adjusting electricity consumption in order to balance the power system. Household appliances can be used for this purpose, for example by providing automatic frequency control. The aim of this master thesis is to investigate the potential of load management from private households and to examine how the power system is affected by a more flexible electricity consumption. The thesis focuses on fridges as automatic frequency control reserves and the ability of fridges to balance the power system. Attributes such as capacity, activation time, persistence and the effect of load reconnection has been modelled in Simulink, Matlab. Complementary interviews with actors from the electricity industry have been done to summarize their insights on demand response. The results indicate that fridges can be used as a part of the automatic frequency controlled reserve FCR-N, based on assumptions made in this study. However, current requirements imposed on balancing resources are not fully met by the fridges. In order for household appliances to provide the needed flexibility, some requirements might need to be rephrased. The results also show that the capacity for providing balancing services differs for positive and negative imbalances, as consumption can be reduced with 30 MW and increased with 66 MW. When controlling the fridges by moving the reference temperature, there is a risk that the appliances will synchronize with each other, i.e. reconnect or disconnect at the same time, resulting in frequency oscillations. It is therefore important that load management is designed to avoid this kind of behavior.

Increased use of variable energy and integration of electricity markets in the European Union have led to new challenges when balancing supply and demand in the grid. Load management is a possible way to manage these challenges by adjusting electricity consumption in order to balance the power system. Household appliances can be used for this purpose, for example by providing automatic frequency control. The aim of this master thesis is to investigate the potential of load management from private households and to examine how the power system is affected by a more flexible electricity consumption. The thesis focuses on fridges as automatic frequency control reserves and the ability of fridges to balance the power system. Attributes such as capacity, activation time, persistence and the effect of load reconnection has been modelled in Simulink, Matlab. Complementary interviews with actors from the electricity industry have been done to summarize their insights on demand response. The results indicate that fridges can be used as a part of the automatic frequency controlled reserve FCR-N, based on assumptions made in this study. However, current requirements imposed on balancing resources are not fully met by the fridges. In order for household appliances to provide the needed flexibility, some requirements might need to be rephrased. The results also show that the capacity for providing balancing services differs for positive and negative imbalances, as consumption can be reduced with 30 MW and increased with 66 MW. When controlling the fridges by moving the reference temperature, there is a risk that the appliances will synchronize with each other, i.e. reconnect or disconnect at the same time, resulting in frequency oscillations. It is therefore important that load management is designed to avoid this kind of behavior.