Understanding Demand
Influencing Demand
Policies for steering demand
Invisible energy policy
Adapting social practices
Commission on Travel Demand
How Demand Varies
Situations, Sites, Sectors
Domestic IT use
Home heating
Offices and office work
Business travel
Online shopping
Car dependence
Older people and mobile lives
Local smart grids
Cooking and cooling in Asia
Energy, Justice and Poverty
Seminars
Demand management at Lancaster University. Jan Bastiaans
Jan is the relatively newly appointed energy manager at Lancaster University and in his talk he took us through what that job entailed, the carbon and sustainability related targets he is expected to meet and the opportunities and limitations that there are around his role. (more…)
View full post →Stacking wood and staying warm: Temporal organization of domestic heating practices. Jenny Rinkinen
Jenny talked about her research on using wood to heat homes in Finland. Heating with wood happens at different scales and takes different forms. There are central heating systems that use wood pellets rather than coal or oil for fuel and that provide an even heat throughout the home. And then there are log fires. These need regular attention and they provide more localised and more variable…
View full post →The need for electricity: Electricity as a need. Neil Simcock
Neil talked about the need for electricity. He approached the topic from three angles, first noticing that in much public debate/media concepts of need and demand are used interchangeably: if electricity is called for (demanded), then it must be needed. Hence the ‘need’ to keep the lights on, etc. This indicates that in popular and policy discourse there is no serious discussion of need,…
View full post →Dragon breath and snow melt: Sensory experience, know-how and keeping homes warm. Sarah Royston
What does it mean to know about energy? Since energy is invisible various devices are required to reveal it and make it knowable (meters; or thermometers to measure the effect of energy consumption for temperature). Different issues arise if we switch focus and ask about the kind of knowing involved in doing things that use energy (operating central heating, collecting and burning wood,…
View full post →How can the UK afford an energy system? Mike Colechin
Mike presented to our largest audience yet, with more watching the live stream online. He took on big questions about the future of the UK energy system, focused in particular on questions of affordability and the need to reconcile these somehow with both sustainability and energy security (the energy policy ‘trilemma’). (more…)
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