Celestial bodies and satellites – Energy issues, models, and imaginaries in Denmark since 1973

Abstract

This article uses the history of macroeconomic energy modelling in Denmark as a case for presenting a theoretical framework which describes issues, publics and imaginaries as an important nexus for energy policy. The story evolves around the actions, tensions, and entanglement of two publics – the traditionalist and the environmentalist – and presents macroeconomic modelling as an instrument for issue articulation and the construction of energy policy imaginaries. The article concludes that macroeconomic modelling is an effective instrument for articulating the economic realities of energy policy, and that economic growth plays a key role in these articulations by determining the basic preconditions for collective imaginaries of energy system futures.