Project Overview

Transition in Energy, Culture and Society advances research in the Energy Humanities by focusing on the social and cultural dimensions of energy transition. One of the most significant challenges of transition is that energy use generates habits, practices, beliefs, and desires specific to energy form. The researchers involved with TECS employ qualitative methods of creative critique to understand the links between energy and society and to address and envision aspects of social and cultural life that contemporary publics might need or want to change in the course of large-scale shifts in energy system.

We are pursuing this research by way of several integrated projects and initiatives: articles and books on energy and society; major international conferences on energy and society and innovative workshops on future energy systems; graphic narratives on energy impasse and energy transition; a digital platform on energy transition; a collaborative project on energy transition and the suburban imaginary; and an international youth dialogue on energy futures – an energy literacy project undertaken with colleagues in Education here at the U of A and at UBC and U Toronto.