Underconsumption in the Anthropocene? Past, present and future of energy poverty in Sweden

What does it mean to be energy poor in the Anthropocene? By using interdisciplinary and artistic approaches, this project explores how societal and technological changes during the Anthropocene period have affected the lived experience of energy poverty – here defined as households’ inability access sufficient energy for home heating. As human impact on the planet has increased rapidly since the 1950’s, the project asks what it means to be energy poor in societies where total energy use continues to increase, overall standard of living keeps improving, yet social and energy-related inequalities persist.

This is done by firstly utilizing archival material and oral histories to learn more about how energy poverty historically has been experienced and dealt with, particularly focusing on how the transition from solid fuels has altered the materiality of energy poverty. These findings are then contrasted with contemporary accounts collected using photo elicitation methods to offer overdue insights on hidden struggles among Swedish households.

Finally, the synthesized findings from the past and the present are used to inform future policymaking that sees energy poverty from a sufficiency lens, as such enabling underconsumption and overconsumption of energy to be addressed in tandem. This can open up for more transformative policymaking that simultaneously breaks trends of increasing climate impact and increasing inequalities.

With an aim to centre households’ experiences in both research methods and dissemination, there will be an artistic exhibition inspired from the photo elicitation method and the oral histories towards the end of the project. The project is also partially conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Anthropocene History at KTH.