ECI Conference: Energy and people: future, complexity and challenges
- Start/Stop Date:
- 20–21 Sep 2011
- Organiser:
- The Lower Carbon Futures research team at the Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University and the UK Energy Research Centre
- Venue:
- Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University
- Focus Areas:
- The relationship between society and energy use, particularly in the context of the major transition to a low carbon energy system.
- Type of Event:
- Conference
The Lower
Carbon Futures research team at the Environmental Change Institute,
Oxford University and the UK Energy Research Centre’s Meeting Place will
host an international, interdisciplinary conference focusing on
the relationship between society and energy use, particularly in the
context of the major transition to a low carbon energy system. Energy is produced and
consumed in multiple contexts: technological, environmental, political,
societal and economic. Energy policies – driven largely by
considerations of security, economic growth and, more recently, climate
change – emphasise the role of new and improved technologies for energy
supply and higher levels of end-use efficiency. But as energy is part
of, and embedded in, nearly all human activities, energy practices are
emerging and re-emerging not only as a result of top down policy, but
also as an outcome of technological change, new infrastructures and
social change and end-user practices. Energy practices in the
future will inevitably be different from the ones we are familiar with
today. The implications of decarbonising the energy system and
responding to the depletion of low cost hydrocarbon reserves are
generally centre stage in energy studies. But these will run alongside
other major changes, for example demographic (ageing population,
urbanization and immigration); environmental (biodiversity loss, water
shortages and waste management); political and economic (shift of power
from west to east and its implications for trade and consumption); and
other socio-technological changes (information, communication and
transport). These changes are still to be explored fully in terms of
their energy implications. Much of the analysis about
the pathway to a low carbon and secure energy system, that is consistent
with expectations about development and economic growth, neglects these
complexities. A role for ‘behaviour change’ is sometimes, but not
always, recognised. However, the centrality of technical and economic
thinking to the analysis generally means that the role of social
change, beyond the individual actor, is neglected. More fundamental
market changes, different institutions and forms of governance may all
be important components of long term change. This international
conference focuses on the future and seeks to open up this wider agenda.
It aims to provide opportunities for dialogue across disciplines and to
explore and better understand some of the likely interactions,
complexities and problems which have implications for energy practices.
It calls for radical and challenging thinking. We encourage papers which
explore future trends in energy practices, emphasise the human
dimension and which
Energy enables a wide range of services that allow people and
societies to develop and live well, including comfort, convenience,
accessibility, communication, health, production and trade. Energy is
embedded in all the goods we consume, from the very basic, such as food
and water, through to the ever-expanding range of consumer luxuries.
- Challenge the conventional wisdom and suggest alternative ways to approach complexity (e.g. non-market mechanisms; social and governance changes).
- Identify novel methods and approaches for studying pathways to low carbon futures (e.g. research methods such as social modelling, agent-based modelling, and social back casting).