Following the warm recommendation of one of our team members, we are flocking to Exeter from 3-5 September to be part of the fourth edition of the Energy and Society conference. This year’s theme Energy transitions in a divided world resonated well with us. From the conference website: “The theme reflects recent developments around the world that have been linked to a decline in social and spatial cohesion and cooperation: the onward march of individualism, privatisation and deregulation associated with neoliberal principles, and the rise of nationalism within and beyond Europe.” Besides a methodological interest and genuine curiosity, these developments are one reason why our project compares individual with community approaches to changing the quality and quantity of household energy use.
In total, four of us will be part of the Exeter experience, representing the project and presenting on behalf of several other team members who co-wrote the papers that will be brought up for discussion. If you are coming to Exeter and would like to meet us, be on the look-out for the following names and topics (attending authors in bold):
- Laure Dobigny & Marlyne Sahakian – Comparing energy-using practice across European countries: methodological considerations
- Gary Goggins, Frances Fahy & Charlotte Louise Jensen – Unpacking efforts to reduce domestic energy use across urban areas in Europe
- Kaisa Matschoss & Petteri Repo – Actor-network analysis of sustainable energy experiments
- Julia Backhaus & Harro van Lente – Hegemonic and counter-hegemonic theories-in-use in sustainable energy initiatives