Heating and Micropower Products Don't Look Too Hot

The heating and micro-power industry is responding to the challenges of climate change and energy security by developing a diverse range of renewable and high efficiency products such as condensing boilers, CHP and wind turbines. However, aside from condensing boilers, the technologies are struggling to break into the mainstream. There are many barriers to widescale uptake of the new technologies, including high costs and low consumer awareness, but one element that seems almost entirely overlooked is aesthetics – the look and feel of the products.

The current industry attitude is that there is little or no need for attractive designs because they are producing building products, not consumer products. But what they are overlooking is the fact that people spend huge amounts of money to make the interiors and exteriors of their homes look good and in many cases would be prepared to pay more for products that enhance, or at the very least do not detract from the appearance of their homes.

This is true throughout the market, but in the renewable and micro-power market, the incentives may be even stronger because whether they'll admit it or not, many customers want to make a statement about their environmental responsibility or pioneering attitude to new technology. They want something that will impress their friends and neighbours. And why not? They are after all investing their own money in environmentally responsible technologies. But many of the current products look distinctly unimpressive.

Besides increasing the desirability and perceived value of products, aesthetics has an important part to play in developing brand value. It's hardly surprising that in a market where nearly all products look the same as their competitors, most people don't know the manufacturer of their own boiler. The industry is overlooking a well-established fact that superior aesthetics provide a significant competitive advantage.

Think of how Apple's imac transformed the PC industry, which had for years insisted that computers were functional products and that beige was the ideal neutral colour. The imac was sleek and colourful, and it was famously joked that the back looked better than the front of any other computer. It gained massive media attention and helped turn a loss making company into one of the world's leading technology companies and an icon of popular culture.

Even the typically conservative GE has stated that product quality is now generally so high and prices so low that we are entering an era in which the look and feel of products will be the main factor in determining their success. Factors such as performance, quality and customer service are still important, but they only meet the modern consumers minimum expectations.

Home energy systems are almost entirely purchased through necessity, but this is because they don't offer anything more than necessity. Products in many other sectors are often replaced before the end of their useful life simply because the owner desires a new, exciting model. Encouraging the premature replacement of products should not normally be advocated as responsible business, but in an industry that is trying to promote high efficiency and renewable technologies, it would be to benefit of the industry, society and environment.

Virginia Postrel, in her book 'The Substance of Style' suggests that aesthetics is no longer something for designers to create and a fashionable elite to buy. It is something that all managers and engineers should be taking seriously because customers demand it. People do have widely varying tastes but what matters is not so much "what style is used, but that style is used, … even in areas where function used to stand alone".1

The heating industry itself has a fantastic example of the value that aesthetics can bring. Fireplaces preceded central heating as the primary heat source in a home. A fundamental, functional aspect of the home, just as the boiler is today. However, the decorative fire surround was developed during the renaissance period to create an aesthetic feature from the functional fireplace and led it to become the decorative focal point of millions of homes across the world. As a consequence the industry survives even now, decades after becoming technologically obsolete.

Heating and micro-power manufacturers are missing a massive opportunity to stimulate customer demand, build valuable brands and gain a clear advantage over the competition. Sooner or later a manufacturer will take the industry by surprise and launch a range of exciting products that gain attention and which people dream of installing in their homes. Until then, we'll just try to forget about the anonymous white box in the utility room.

- Tom Greenwood