CULTIVATING CONVERSATION FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION

Lunchtime seminar with Phil Catney, Keele
This talk examines the potential of locally-based interactive knowledge sharing networks – ‘Community Knowledge Networks’ (CKNs) – to enhance community capacity to engage in energy conservation.

The spread of ‘socially useful’ knowledge and skills about domestic energy conservation is an important part of reducing harmful greenhouse emissions and alleviating energy poverty. Cultivating conversations between users about energy conservation is hence a corollary to social learning.

This talk examines the potential of locally-based interactive knowledge sharing networks – ‘Community Knowledge Networks’ (CKNs) – to enhance community capacity to engage in energy conservation. Drawing upon fieldwork data, the talk will identify a number of barriers to opening-up collective conversations about energy use and conservation. The presentation explores potential methods of stimulating conversation about energy conservation to overcome such barriers.