ABSTRACT
Sustainable Human Development is a key policy objective of governments globally. The success and value of sustainable technology projects are often considered in economic or technical terms, with less focus on intended beneficiaries’ experiences and desired outcomes, particularly for older people. A lack of understanding of the value placed on people’s energy decisions and how energy is used can lead to resistance in uptake of technologies and tension between project aims and mutually appreciated outcomes. Participatory approaches help to redress this imbalance and focus on ‘end-user’ perspectives. The chapter draws on two renewable energy research projects which have participatory approaches embedded at different levels of their implementation in the UK and Indian contexts.
