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thomas.berker @ hf.ntnu.noCentre for Technology and SocietyNorwegian University of Science and Technology

Thomas Berker, Energy=JoyxBeauty

Energy = Joy x Beauty?

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Overview

• Points of departure• Concepts• Research sites

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Point of departure 1

How do we deal with private energy consumption?

A transdisciplinary challenge.

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2 more points of departure

• Going beyond approaches which frame (energy) consumption in simplistic and deterministic ways.

• Exploring spaces between/beyond misleading alternatives (dualisms).

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Action vs Structure

• private (energy) consumption is about the individual's choices

moral appeal• private (energy) consumption is about

technology/institutions/laws and regulations technocratic option (technological determinism,

economic incentives)

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More misleading dualisms

• rational/irrational

• technology/use

• other misleading dualisms– private/public

– consumption/production

– local/global

– ....

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Instead: A relational approach

• Douglas and Isherwood (1979): consumption “an integral part of the social need to relate to other people”

• Actor-Network-Theory: ... and to relate people and things and things

• specifically: the manifold relations between people and things and things involved in production, distribution, management, and consumption of energy

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Production

Consumption

Distribution

Maintenance

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Unchartered Territory: Energy and Pleasure• A warm bath: How the bath has become a “high-

energy room”

• A second chance: Aesthetics and sustainability in the second home industry

• Sustainable pleasures: Pleasure and sports industries

• Educating aesthetic sustainability: Industrial design and sustainability

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Grateful for any input:

helen.gansmo @ hf.ntnu.no

thomas.berker @ hf.ntnu.no