Just Flexibility? The Envisioned Role of End Users in Future Electricity Systems

Summary Energy demand and everyday energy use has gained increased attention as an element of reducing carbon emissions and combating climate change. This doctoral thesis explores domestic electricity consumption and expert expectations for more flexible electricity consumption, also known as ‘end-user flexibility’, to reduce electricity demand peaks. The thesis is supported by four research papers that qualitatively study the role of end-users in the future energy system and end-user flexibility in various ways. Theoretically, the thesis draws on social science perspectives on energy, primarily from science and technology studies (STS). Paper 1 identifies how expert actors in industry and researchers who work within smart energy developments envision solutions to encourage more flexible electricity consumption among end-users. Paper 2 deals with different framings of flexibility among traditional householders and experts and the potential social consequences of more flexible electricity consumption for the users. Paper 3 studies material, structural and social factors of students’ electricity consumption and their understandings of flexible consumption, individually and collectively. Paper 4 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. Together, the papers highlight the role of electricity consumption in daily life, and how social life and societal structures enforce temporal rhythms that create peaks of electricity consumption. The thesis questions the fundamental nature of end-user flexibility, and how this flexibility is currently shaped. It argues that implementing end-user flexibility can be viewed as an act of shifting responsibilities and work away from the energy system and towards the users. The discussions in this thesis emphasise energy justice issues and the elements of unpaid labour related to making electricity consumption more flexible. The thesis concludes that a more flexible electricity consumption may lead to a less flexible way of living, particularly for some social groups, such as vulnerable and untraditional end-users. Sammendrag Etterspørsel og forbruk av energi i dagliglivet har fått økt oppmerksomhet som ett ledd i utslippsreduksjon og i kampen mot klimaendringer. Denne doktorgradsavhandlingen utforsker strømforbruk i husholdninger, og eksperters forventninger knyttet til mer fleksibelt strømforbruk,