IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v46y2014i9p2095-2109.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Cosmopolitics of Energy: Diverging Materialities and Hesitating Practices

Author

Listed:
  • Jennifer Gabrys

    (Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London, Lewisham Way, New Cross, London SE14 6NW, England)

Abstract

Numerous proposals, analyses, and strategies now exist for materializing energy in order to influence environmental participation and reduce energy use. This paper asks how specific materialities of energy are articulated across social science and creative practice projects, and how these distinct renderings of materiality perform environmental change. Drawing on work by Stengers, the paper moves to consider the diverging materialities and speculative practices that might emerge through more cosmopolitical approaches to energy. A range of creative practice projects that materialize energy and perform environmental change in different registers is discussed, with attention given to considering how what counts as materiality, participation, and environmental matters of concern shifts within these differently configured engagements. The paper asks how alternative materialities of energy might be articulated that work through experimental registers of environmental practice, and that may not always be clearly directed toward instrumental ends. How might environmental practices attend to the speculative qualities of performativity, which engage not just with energy as actuality but also with energy as potentiality?

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Gabrys, 2014. "A Cosmopolitics of Energy: Diverging Materialities and Hesitating Practices," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(9), pages 2095-2109, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:9:p:2095-2109
    DOI: 10.1068/a468
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a468
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a468?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hargreaves, Tom & Nye, Michael & Burgess, Jacquelin, 2010. "Making energy visible: A qualitative field study of how householders interact with feedback from smart energy monitors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 6111-6119, October.
    2. Burgess, Jacquelin & Nye, Michael, 2008. "Re-materialising energy use through transparent monitoring systems," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4454-4459, December.
    3. Sheldrick, Bill & Macgill, Sally, 1988. "Local energy conservation initiatives in the UK : Their nature and achievements," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 562-578, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hege Westskog & Tanja Winther & Hanne Sæle, 2015. "The Effects of In-Home Displays—Revisiting the Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-21, May.
    2. Büchs, Milena & Bahaj, AbuBakr S. & Blunden, Luke & Bourikas, Leonidas & Falkingham, Jane & James, Patrick & Kamanda, Mamusu & Wu, Yue, 2018. "Promoting low carbon behaviours through personalised information? Long-term evaluation of a carbon calculator interview," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 284-293.
    3. Artem Korzhenevych & Charles Kofi Owusu, 2021. "Renewable Minigrid Electrification in Off-Grid Rural Ghana: Exploring Households Willingness to Pay," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Karen Bickerstaff & Emma Hinton & Harriet Bulkeley, 2016. "Decarbonisation at home: The contingent politics of experimental domestic energy technologies," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(10), pages 2006-2025, October.
    5. Kendel, Adnane & Lazaric, Nathalie & Maréchal, Kevin, 2017. "What do people ‘learn by looking’ at direct feedback on their energy consumption? Results of a field study in Southern France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 593-605.
    6. Pelenur, Marcos J. & Cruickshank, Heather J., 2012. "Closing the Energy Efficiency Gap: A study linking demographics with barriers to adopting energy efficiency measures in the home," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 348-357.
    7. Jia, Jun-Jun & Xu, Jin-Hua & Fan, Ying, 2018. "Public acceptance of household energy-saving measures in Beijing: Heterogeneous preferences and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 487-499.
    8. Nyberg, Roy A., 2018. "Using ‘smartness’ to reorganise sectors: Energy infrastructure and information engagement," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-68.
    9. Murtagh, Niamh & Nati, Michele & Headley, William R. & Gatersleben, Birgitta & Gluhak, Alexander & Imran, Muhammad Ali & Uzzell, David, 2013. "Individual energy use and feedback in an office setting: A field trial," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 717-728.
    10. Hyunjae Daniel Shin & Richard Bull, 2019. "Three Dimensions of Design for Sustainable Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-15, August.
    11. Lagomarsino, Maria & van der Kam, Mart & Parra, David & Hahnel, Ulf J.J., 2022. "Do I need to charge right now? Tailored choice architecture design can increase preferences for electric vehicle smart charging," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    12. Bradley, Peter & Coke, Alexia & Leach, Matthew, 2016. "Financial incentive approaches for reducing peak electricity demand, experience from pilot trials with a UK energy provider," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 108-120.
    13. Demski, Christina & Poortinga, Wouter & Pidgeon, Nick, 2014. "Exploring public perceptions of energy security risks in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 369-378.
    14. Jia, Jun-Jun & Xu, Jin-Hua & Fan, Ying & Ji, Qiang, 2018. "Willingness to accept energy-saving measures and adoption barriers in the residential sector: An empirical analysis in Beijing, China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 56-73.
    15. Buckley, Penelope, 2020. "Prices, information and nudges for residential electricity conservation: A meta-analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    16. Oltra, Christian & Boso, Alex & Espluga, Josep & Prades, Ana, 2013. "A qualitative study of users' engagement with real-time feedback from in-house energy consumption displays," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 788-792.
    17. Francesca Cellina & Dominik Bucher & José Veiga Simão & Roman Rudel & Martin Raubal, 2019. "Beyond Limitations of Current Behaviour Change Apps for Sustainable Mobility: Insights from a User-Centered Design and Evaluation Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-26, April.
    18. Graeme Stuart & Leticia Ozawa-Meida, 2020. "Supporting Decentralised Energy Management through Smart Monitoring Systems in Public Authorities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    19. Mariola E. Zalewska, 2021. "The Impact of Incentives on Employees to Change Thermostat Settings—A Field Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-14, August.
    20. Buchanan, Kathryn & Russo, Riccardo & Anderson, Ben, 2014. "Feeding back about eco-feedback: How do consumers use and respond to energy monitors?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 138-146.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:9:p:2095-2109. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.