Background
This project explores the relationship between ‘energy using practices’ and ‘energy services’, to build conceptual bridges between the two and develop a better understanding of the quantitative implications of practices.
Practice theory is used to understand habitual actions, but research is largely qualitative. The concept of energy services tends to be better understood by practitioners: it is more readily quantifiable, as it refers to functions rather than to the product of actions, meanings and knowledge within socio-technical systems.
We also address the role of energy policy in influencing practices and services through a PhD studentship, and trace changes in practice associated with energy transitions in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Publications:
- Hampton, S. (2018) Policy implementation as practice? Using social practice theory to examine multi-level governance efforts to decarbonise transport in the United Kingdom. Energy Research & Social Science 38, 41-52
- Gram-Hanssen, K. and Darby, S.J. (2018) “Home is where the smart is”? Evaluating smart home research and approaches against the concept of home. Energy Research and Social Science, 37: 94-101
- Hampton, S. (2017) An ethnography of energy demand and working from home: Exploring the affective dimensions of social practice in the United Kingdom. Energy Research & Social Science
- Hampton, S. and Fawcett, T. (2017) Challenges of designing and delivering effective SME energy policy. European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, Summer Study Conference Paper
- Darby, S.J. (2017) Coal fires, steel houses and the man in the moon: local experiences of energy transition. Energy Research and Social Science 31, 120-127
