Bringing energy futures to life: Anticipatory household storylines as possible energy futures

Abstract

This article introduces a new methodology developed through the Digital Energy Futures project, which created scenarios of relevance to Australia’s energy sector for the years 2030 and 2050 that are informed by in-depth qualitative research with households. The article focuses on the method for developing narrative household storylines within energy scenarios and their role illustrating the social consequences of imagined futures. In particular, the household narratives reveal often overlooked social dynamics of energy and technology use such as inequalities in access to technologies, everyday values and priorities, as well as their desires to stay in control of household technologies and preferences for particular limits to automation. The household storylines encourage the energy sector to take critical social dynamics into account in their forecasting and planning and to recognise the diverse implications of envisioned energy futures across households. In the vein of an engaged and interventional futures anthropology, this article goes beyond traditional critiques of quantitative forecasting by offering a method to take forward and demonstrating how social science can provide interventions into the unfolding of better social futures with technology.