‘Doing good science’: The impact of invisible energy policies on laboratory energy demand in higher education

Abstract

Education is the second largest consumer of energy in the service sector, however, little research to date has focused on the link between education policy and energy demand. Using a case study, this paper explores the role of invisible energy policies in Higher Education (HE). We make a distinctive contribution to debates about invisible energy policy by applying concepts from governmentality to show how different policies and technologies of governance come in to conflict in practice. And, we argue that although there are a number of institutional and national-level policies directly related to sustainability (including energy) there are also a number of conflicting priorities, most notably linked to the neoliberalisation of HE. Our case study focuses on teaching and research laboratories and empirically explores the impacts of both intentional and non-intentional energy policy in these spaces. Specifically this research highlights that the ability to ‘do good science’ has implications for demand management that go beyond research and teaching laboratory activities, and into the wider realm of HE institutions and policies.