(No) room for time-shifting energy use: Reviewing and reconceptualizing flexibility capital

Abstract

Decarbonizing society will require a shift toward renewable electricity production. However, the temporal configuration of renewables requires that demand adapt accordingly. Introducing intermittent electricity production will thus require end users to be more flexible in their use of electricity. Flexibility capital has been promoted as a concept for analyzing material preconditions in order to understand how providing flexibility might interfere with the daily life of the users. However, this concept focuses mainly on (im)material resources, while the social and temporal factors of society that also mediate flexibility have been less emphasized. The aim of this study is thus twofold: 1) to summarize all research published thus far on flexibility capital, and 2) to reconceptualize the concept by integrating aspects of socio-temporal configuration. The result is a more nuanced concept of flexibility capital that considers the role of both (im)material resources and social and temporal factors, such as norms, conventions, shared space, others, and bodily needs. Conceptualizing flexibility capacity as capital directs attention to a number of social implications. First, it highlights how the uneven material distribution in society may amplify social inequalities within the energy sector. Secondly, it questions whether electricity uses are inherently flexible under the current socio-temporal configuration of society. Thirdly, it warns that organizing the operation of energy systems around end user flexibility renders the users a commodity instead of giving them agency. These insights contribute to the field of energy justice by showing how flexible energy use can be evaluated according to the energy justice principles.