Just Flexibility? The Envisioned Role of End Users in Future Electricity Systems
Challenge and objective
Energy demand and everyday energy use has gained increased attention as an element of reducing carbon emissions and combating climate change.
The thesis draws on social science perspectives on energy, primarily from science and technology studies (STS).
Work performed
PhD-thesis submitted, including four articles:
Identifies how expert actors in industry and researchers who work within smart energy developments envision solutions to en-courage more flexible electricity consumption among end-users.
Deals with different framings of flexibility among traditional householders and experts and the potential social consequences of more flexible electricity consumption for the users.
Studies material, structural and social factors of students’ electricity consumption and their under-standings of flexible consumption, individually and collectively.
Focuses on rigid and flexible household consumption and studies changes in energy cultures in recent decades, and how these changes relate to increased demand for flexibility.
Significant results
Highlighting the role of electricity consumption in daily life, and how social life and societal structures enforce temporal rhythms that create peaks of electricity consumption.
Impact for distribution system innovation
Knowledge about households and their focus on electricity consumption
