Smart Energy Technologies in Everyday Life: Smart Utopia? (Consumption and Public Life)

The rise of smart energy technologies is transforming all aspects of social life. This innovative book critically interrogates the global utopian vision for smart energy and the ultimate consumer-the Resource Man-who is intended to realise its aims. Delving into domains of everyday life where this vision is largely absent, the book provides a unique conceptualisation of energy and technology in everyday practice. Through a lively analysis of energy feedback, dynamic pricing, home automation and micro-generation, the book enriches and extends the possibilities for smart energy technologies in everyday life. It proposes that prices can convey 'meanings' about energy, that automation technologies can 'act back' like the Golems of Jewish mythology and that 'home made' energies can matter to everyday practices in important ways. Crossing disciplines including sociology, human-computer interaction design and science and technology studies, the book reimagines what the Smart Utopia is and how its aims can be realised.