Digital and energy systems are often researched separately, yet there is a growing body of analysis addressing the multiple ways in which they overlap and intersect. From analysis addressing the ways the digital is being figured within multiple aspects of urban energy systems, including for electric vehicles and ‘smart’ cities (e.g. Skolsvold et al. 2022), to work examining connections within contexts of informality, where digital access is deeply linked to energy access (e.g. Caprotti et al. 2022). There are methodological overlaps where digital figures in the possibilities for understanding energy systems, through for example models of energy systems and the use of digital twins. Such understandings have also been examined critically within works that address the dominance of specific technical and economic imaginaries of digital energy systems (Kaviani et al. 2023; Bourne et al. 2024). There is a significant literature examining the nature of governance at the intersection of digital and energy systems, leading to calls for a re-examination of concepts like energy democracy in light of digital innovation (e.g. Judson et al. 2022). Work addressing governance has highlighted a wide range of other interconnections, such as the ways that battery production economics and politics are being reshaped with and for energy systems transitions (e.g. Bridge and Faigen, 2022; Gong and Hansen, 2023). There are analyses of the deep connections between the development of digital systems (including data storage, smart systems, and AI) and increasing demand for energy, which is still primarily met through burning fossil fuels. There is a wide-ranging body of work, then, asking questions about the purported sustainability benefits to be derived from the elision between digital technologies and energy systems (e.g. Strengers, 2023).
Research engagement at the intersections between energy and the digital are therefore vital for transitions to sustainability. Across these diUerent areas of analysis connecting the digital and energy, themes of in/justice and social inequalities are also writ large in ways that signal the wider relevance of these debates. For the webinar series this year, the Energy Geographies and Digital Geographies Research Groups of the RGS are working together to bring you analysis, talks, and discussions that engage at these intersections.
Webinars
Webinar 1
Date: 26/02/25 (2-3PM GMT)
Title: Digital and energy landscapes in independent living: the case of digital technologies for health and wellbeing in England
Speaker: Ralitsa Hiteva Principal Research Fellow, SPRU, University of Sussex
Abstract: The presentation explores the mis/connections of digital technologies for health and wellbeing and energy in independent living in England. The development and diffusion of digital technologies in social housing has been developed without considering the energy required to operate and maintain the technologies. The implications for environmental impact and health and wellbeing of residents are unpacked by exploring how digital technologies are experienced in independent living space through LCA, institutional mapping and digital encounters methodologies.
Date: 05/03/24 (2-3PM GMT)
Title: “Developing digital twins in the energy industry – lessons for innovators, policy makers and infrastructure operators”
Speaker: Ola Michalec, Lecturer in Digital Futures, University of Bristol Business School // Bristol Digital Futures Institute
Bio: Ola’s research interests revolve around understanding how experts from diverse fields collaborate resolving tensions between legacy infrastructures and digital innovations. Previously, she applied this question to the context of critical infrastructures, cyber security, and energy industry. Ola contributes to debates in Science and Technology Studies and plays an active role in communities such as Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security (https://riscs.org.uk/).
Abstract: Scientists and practitioners working on digital twins promise to deliver replicas of the energy system and its components, able to automatically operate in real-time and generate countless scenarios to advise with planning of new infrastructures. Despite the enthusiasm across the industry, digital twins received criticisms for being mere empty buzzwords, unable to contribute to the ‘twin transition’ of digital and energy sectors. This article aims to understand the phenomenon of hype surrounding digital twins, treating it as an attempt to surface or conceal particular issues regarding energy governance. The analysis reveals that initially hype helped to enrol a broad community of stakeholders through the promises of detailed, real-time modelling, developed in tandem with responsible innovation tools for data scientists. Soon after, this framing brought about disappointment and confusion. With data access emerging as a key challenge, practitioners are re-aligning the agenda towards the creation of the infrastructure for data sharing. However, the debate on the ethics and politics of digital twins stayed with the initial framing of ‘digital twins-as-models’. In other words, the politics of data sharing were concealed. As such, digital twins require sociotechnical analysis beyond the modelling-specific concerns of bias, accuracy or explainability. Energy governance should focus instead on anticipating the reconfiguration of the political and economic relationships enabled by new data sharing infrastructures. The article concludes with identifying three governance concerns related to data sharing infrastructures in energy: 1) transparent procurement; 2) public engagement in grid upgrades; 3) sustainable financing of public IT projects.
Date: 19/03/25 (9-10PM GMT)
Speaker: Yolande Strengers
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Date: 26/03/25 (time TBD)
Title: “Public Engagement with Smart Local Energy Systems”
Speaker: Iain Soutar, University of Exeter
Abstract: TBD