The power of energy cultures

Developing an energy culture framework helps to understand the power relations in the energy transition in Eastern Europe. Energy justice and geopolitical cultures expose the struggles for an equitable energy system. Energy cultures rest assumptions that culture, according to Donald Mitchell, emerge from struggle, “between the production of ‘culture’ and its use, where ‘culture’ is produced, not as a thing, but as a relationship†(Mitchell 2000, xviii). In Lithuania, Hungary, and Poland, they built domestic and foreign policies on the orientation of their energy systems. They needed to decide to stay with the Russian back energy system or diversify through the EU’s governance structure. Each country chose a path reflecting their energy culture. These choices show the geopolitics of energy and cultural interpretations of an equitable energy system. By exposing the relations within the energy system, the culture of energy can be described.