Author Archives: Simone Gristwood

Seminar: Giuseppe Salvia, Smart technology vs smarter people?

Posted on December 20, 2016

The application of smart technology is spreading in everyday practices. Devices such as self-driving vehicles and autonomous thermostats promise a more efficient future in which smart automation reduces human workload and energy consumption. But at what expense? I argue that the renegotiation of competences between people and ubiquitous smart technology tends to undermine and override people's…

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Managing heat stress within and across domains: outdoor workers, rhythm and responsibility in Australia’s monsoonal north. Elspeth Opperman

Posted on September 22, 2016

Seminar held: Wednesday 21st September 2016 Australia’s monsoon tropics is characterised by high temperatures combined with extremely high humidity for about half of the year. These conditions pose a profound challenge to human thermoregulation and heat stress is a common experience in the region. The outdoor, labour-intensive workforce is particularly exposed, and produces additional…

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Think Piece: (Em)powering the household? Emerging energy practices around decentralised storage of solar energy

Posted on September 5, 2016

Sanneke Kloppenburg, Robin Smale & Nick Verkade (sanneke.kloppenburg@wur.nl) The rise of renewable energy generated by wind turbines and PV poses challenges to the balancing of supply and demand of electricity. Solar panels only generate energy during day time, whereas a peak in consumption takes place in the evening. Storage of renewable energy near to their decentralized sources, at…

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Energy transitions in the age of complex systems: understanding current energy transitions through an historical enquiry on instrumentality. Nicola Labanca

Posted on July 19, 2016

Seminar held: Wednesday 13th July 2016 The seminar will propose discussing current energy transitions in the light of the insights offered by an historical enquiry on instrumentality. The proposed approach allows interpreting the present age of complex systems as the result of some fundamental transformations concerning how the conception of human artefacts commonly known as instruments…

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A sociology of household energy infrastructures: the case of the stove replacement program in rural Chile. Tomas Ariztia

Posted on June 23, 2016

This presentation offers some early findings of a research project focused on following a large scale environmental policy oriented on replacing old, often handmade, firewood stove for new high-end kerosene and “pellet” stoves in Southern Chile. The main aim of this policy is to reduce air pollution. The presentation focuses on discussing some preliminary empirical findings as well as…

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