Social and cultural change is a key ingredient in successful energy transitions. Societal norms and routines with regard to work, education, family life, consumption and recreation greatly determine our patterns of energy use as well as our ability and willingness to change those patterns. Without a comprehensive understanding of these practice cultures, efforts to reduce energy use and carbon emissions at the individual or household levels are unlikely to deliver the long-term impacts necessary for a sustainable transformation.
At the final conference of the ENERGISE project, researchers will share new insights into social and cultural influences on energy use across different levels of society. Speakers will draw on almost three-years of cutting edge research that uses a ‘Living Labs’ approach to directly observe existing practice cultures related to energy use in a real-world setting, and to test both household and community-level initiatives to reduce energy use. Participants in the conference will discuss the impact of European energy consumption reduction initiatives, and explore the use of Living Lab approaches for researching and transforming patterns of sustainable consumption. Attention will also be given to new theoretical approaches to evaluate energy initiatives, with a particular focus on social practices and cultures. Lessons and insights for policy will be presented in relation to the advancement of the European Energy Union.
The ENERGISE final conference is open to all interested parties, and will actively encourage positive interaction between actors from society, academia, the policy arena and industry. ENERGISE is funded under the EU H2020 programme (Grant No 727647).
