Week 2 Flashcards
infrastructures + practice theory
In this chapter we argue that infrastructures, the social practices they sustain, the devices and appliances involved and the patterns of demand that follow are interlinked and that they mutually influence each other.
infrastructures + practice theory (thee typical formulations)
one in which ever-expanding infrastructures are linked to increasingly demanding practices; one associated with ever-expanding infrastructures, growing resource consumption and increasingly demanding practices;
one in which infrastructures shrink or change, but sustain and stabilise current practices; ; the second with modified and sometimes shrinking infrastructures that sustain and stabilise current practices, but that do so more efficiently and with fewer resources than before;
one in which practices and supporting infrastructures are radically reconstituted. third implying more or less radical changes in practices that entail or that are associated with more or less radical disconnection from some (typically, electricity) but not all (typically, not the internet) infrastructures viewed as being essential to the reproduction of everyday life in old-industrialised Western societies.
mainstream policy and engineering approache
consumers’ needs for resources such as energy, water or data precede the development of infrastructures, and that the task of governments and firms alike is to predict (or uncover) and provide for these needs.
Instead, we contend that infrastructures, the social practices they sustain, the devices and appliances involved and the patterns of demand that follow are interlinked and that they mutually influence each other.
To give a very simple example, being connected to an electricity grid enables people to engage in a multitude of power-dependent practices and hence supports the reproduction of these practices and the energy they call for, in turn justifying the development, perpetual extension and continuous operation of relevant electricity supply infrastructures
rather than simply meeting pre-existing needs, infrastructures
shape relations between practices, material artefacts and related concepts of service (e.g., of comfort, convenience) in time and space; reciprocally, established practices shape and sustain specific infrastructural configurations.
infrastructures are multi-purpose:
they enable many practices at once. Equally, many practices involve the simultaneous or sequential use of several infrastructures: for example, taking a shower typically requires (usually grid-supplied) energy, piped, pressurised water and a connection to a sewer system (or septic tank).
people do not ‘use’ electricity in some raw form.
Instead, demand happens when electrically powered devices or material arrangements become integral to the conduct of specific practices.
Fourth, as networks become an essential part of cooking, lighting, computing or heating, etc.
the need for reliable supply becomes multiply embedded and increasingly important in daily life
As a consequence of these four features, infrastructures, appliances and practices coevolve over time
The diffusion of network-dependent appliances
that is, appliances using grid electricity, tap water or telephone lines – have helped to foster the emergence, the reproduction and the reinforcement of modern domestic standards of comfort, convenience, cleanliness and communication.
Consider electricity supply. In some cases, the need for grid-supplied power arises from a process of delegation typically from a human (or from human labour) to an appliance. This is, for instance, the case with laundry, many aspects of which are now undertaken by a machine, which, incidentally, also requires pressurised water supply.
In addition, some, but not all, of these practices and appliances have no “unpowered” prehistory.
As these various examples suggest, there are significant differences in how powered technologies have (re)constituted practices and in when, in the life of a practice, this (re)shaping occurs.
reliability of supply becomes an important dimension, even a condition,
hence increasing dependence as people (as practitioners) are bound into certain infrastructural/technological systems and into sets of institutional relations that surround and constitute the process of ‘using’ electricity today.
historical development of large infrastructure systems in Western societies
a common pattern of escalating demand, increasing the value of services and/or decreasing unit costs of provision
nor is consumption simply determined by availability, accessibility and affordability
Rather, it is an outcome of complex processes of demand-making and reciprocal influence between supply and demand, in which network-connected appliances and devices become available, accessible, affordable, desirable and then embedded in multiple social practices and hence in the conduct of daily life.
‘labour saving’ technologies co-developed with new, more exacting standards
although energy demand and the use of electrically powered household equipment increased significantly, the time American women spent on domestic chores did not reduce. In effect, the development of new infrastructures and the diffusion of new appliances helped establish new interpretations of ‘normal’ comfort and cleanliness.
In so far as the efficiency agenda is designed to
meet present needs with fewer resources, it has far-reaching and powerful consequences: helping to preserve and reproduce what are treated as taken-for-granted, non-negotiable standards
growing recognition among climate change experts and policy-makers
improvements in energy efficiency will be insufficient to meet carbon emissions targets and that more radical changes may be required.
In this context, it makes sense to wonder whether infrastructures, appliances and practices might be reconfigured in ways that call for very much less consumption
Looking ahead, it is possible to envisage systems and technologies that enable more collective forms of provisioning (for example, shared laundries, district heating systems), increasingly IT-based, partly ‘dematerialised’ services or less energy-intensive systems (unfrozen food chains) or novel forms or standards of provision (wearing insulation, reducing the volume of heated or cooled space).
We conclude that whatever arrangements take hold in the years ahead, one thing is sure:
they will be informed by past and present concepts of progress, by institutions and systems of provision and by a material legacy of buildings, generators, pipes and wires.
We have used this scheme to argue that networked infrastructures
do not necessarily constitute ‘technologies of growth’ (type 1) and in particular that they do not necessarily call for and support ever more service- or resource-intensive practices. Under specific conditions, ‘shrinking’ infrastructures (type 2) may prove profitable for utility companies, users and the environment (in terms of resource use) alike. Both these configurations (type 1 and type 2) help reproduce specific concepts of ‘normal’ practice, laying down multiple, sometimes reinforcing, tracks of ‘path dependence’; representing ‘sunk costs’ in terms of hardware and – perhaps more powerfully – anchoring normative visions of everyday life. By contrast, the third formulation (‘reconfiguring infrastructures’ (type 3)) entails and depends on establishing practices that are positioned in opposition or at least as an alternative to those associated with mainstream infrastructural provision
Energy vs. GDP
correlated, but there is no clear relationship
Higher GDP through access to energy
• Higher GDP can drive higher consumption
• Energy rarely changes on its own
(health, education, transportation, sanitation, etc)
Energy as “driver”.
skill? tech? meaning?
skill –> technology –> meaning
Sometimes people do not see the meaning of practices, you have to make policies
Sometimes people do not think they have the skill to do it
Energy is …
Part of accomplishing practices
Shaped by material arrangements
E.g. Infrastructure that supports less demanding practices
public transport – narrower car lanes and larger bike lanes – your own solar panels
Path dependency
past shapes future
Networked normality
light has to switch
Why is efficiency bad?
The weird square graph – even if we increase efficiency, people are living in larger houses,
Next weird graph – driving the car alone
Different approaches to energy: driver
“DRIVER”
Energy as cause or consequence of changing political, economic or technological systems
Societies are defined (in part) by the ways in which energy resources and technologies are
defined
• Socio-economic development and energy
• Technology/technological systems and energy
• Users and energy
Different approaches to energy: parcel
“PART AND PARCEL”
Energy as part of social practice
• Practice theory approach to energy
Energy is not a cause or
consequence of social systems
Energy is an ingredient of practices
Conventional approaches to energy:
See energy as ‘autonomous’ from society
• Reproduce ‘normal’ practice
meaning vs. skill vs. technology
meaning - reason behind the execution of a practice
skill - understanding how to execute a practice
technology - objects and infrastructure necessary for practice
Energy is…
• Part of accomplishing social practices (Shove and Walker 2014)
• Profoundly shaped by material arrangements (Shove and Walker
2014)
Insofar as policy has an impact on energy use,
, it so in, through and by
means of modifying or transforming material arrangements, practices
and social orders. (Shove and Walker 2014, page 55)
Practice theory approach to understanding demand
.Infrastructures shape relations between practices, material artefacts and services (and maintain
these) à meeting pre-existing needs
Example: comfort
2. Infrastructures related to many practices and practices related to many infrastructures
Example: laundry requires 3 infra (pressurized water, energy, waste removal)
3. appliances mediate between users and infrastructures: demand happens when material
arrangements become integral to practice
Example: Family night=watching box set of dvds/Netflix series
4. As infrastructures become embedded in practices, reliability becomes increasingly important.
Example: if wifi is down, you cannot study
Homes are part of infrastructures such as (smart homes)
Power • Heating • Transportation • Communication • Water • Sanitation • Waste
Smart homes are connected to and part of energy systems -ict -storage -appliances -power networks
Smart homes
Can help promote system efficiency by helping to reduce peak
demand and help match supply and demand (Gram-Hanssen &
Darby 2018)
• This helps integrate more distributed and intermittent renewable
energy generation
• Practice
Social practices ordered across space and time
Energy-related practice
• A practice in which energy is used to accomplish it
(NOTE: energy is not used for its own sake)
• Example: cooking, watching tv, travelling
Abstraction, purification, standardization
• Remove ‘energy’ from ‘work’ or practice being done, extract energy as a
measurable value from the service (asking how much heat instead of are you
warm)
• Energy demand
Arises from changes in practices or clusters of practices
How can we understand the relationship between supply and demand?
Two approaches:
1) modelling (production, demand)
(looks at efficiency and better technology; infra ensures delivery)
2) practice theory
(looks at combination of meaning, skill, technology; infra shapes
demand)
Energy efficiency:
ratio of useful outputs for a specified system
how much output given amount of energy
Energy intensity
: inverse of this measure (how much energy is needed
for a given output)
• To drive from Leeuwarden to Groningen (69km), you need 10.6 l of fuel
Energy intensity: how much energy is
needed for a given output
Why is efficiency not increasing as it ‘should’?
More steel production in China and US
• Colder winters and warmer summers in US
• More use of fossil fuel (coal) for electricity production (not efficient, loss of
energy in conversion)
• “While technologies and processes are becoming more efficient,
structural factors, like changes in transport modes and more building
floor area per person, are dampening the impact of these technical
efficiency gains on energy demand, and slowing global energy
intensity improvements.”
Factors influencing residential energy use
greater use of appliances; higher appliance ownership; more floor area per person; population; extreme weather;
What does IEA think we can do to
improve growth of efficiency?
The new report includes a special focus on the ways in which
digitalisation is transforming energy efficiency and increasing its
value. By multiplying the interconnections among buildings,
appliances, equipment and transport systems, digitalisation is
providing energy efficiency gains beyond what was possible when
these areas remained largely disconnected. While efficiency in these
areas has always had benefits for energy systems, digitalisation
enables these benefits to be measured and valued more quickly and
more accurately
Final contrast: efficiency vs practice theory
Efficiency = doing things
(technologically) better
Practice theory = doing things
differently or giving different meaning
to things
Focus on efficiency means…
Jevons, rebound effect • Making ‘energy’ across uses equivalent • Measurement in standardized units ‘erases’ differences that can be essential to experience • Bounding the object • Not questioning system • What is demand? • How does current system maintain unsustainable practices?
The relationship between practices and infrastructures works both ways
1) networks and grids of different kinds shape how practices develop
2) they are maintained, modified and extended in response – infrastructures adapt
energy is not a cause of consequence of social systems
energy is an ingredient of practices
networked normality
including expectations that power is always ‘on’, that there is permanently reliable communication and that the rhythms and interdependencies of ‘modern’ living are here to stay.
