The social lives of distributed generation and circular economy technologies (2018-2022)

Description

By taking a multi-sited ethnographic approach, this project focused on studying the domestic, commercial, and regulatory lives of distributed generation and circular economy clean technologies. We focused on exploring how the practices and technologies associated with these two activities are defined, circulated, and sustained as domestic activities, commercial objects, and regulatory objects. In doing so, we were also interested in analyzing circular economy and distributed generation technologies as sites for social and political experimentation, where different forms of defining and enabling low-impact lives are produced. This project was funded by Agencia Nacional de Investigacion (ANID) under the Number XX:

Approach

We approached distributed generation and circular economy technologies in relation to three distinctive but related operations in which different versions were enacted: namely, as domestic, business, and as regulatory objects. By taking a symmetrical approach, we understood these operations as different milieus in which present and future versions of energy self-generation and domestic recycling technologies were materialized.

• Distributed generation and circular economy technologies as policy objects. We were interested in analyzing the ways in which distributed generation and waste management were enacted and mobilized as policy objects. We did so by exploring how different policies associated with distributed generation and the emergent discourses around the circular economy were created. We focused on studying how different public actors defined the nature and scope of these activities, regulating their everyday performance infrastructures and their forms of economic organization. In doing so, we were interested in mapping the different knowledge practices and professional jurisdictions as well as the socio-technical imaginaries that were involved in the process of regulating these activities.

• Distributed generation and circular economy technologies as commercial objects. We analyzed the set of practices and devices from which distributed generation and waste management were defined and evaluated as commercial objects. We were interested in studying the different operations from which consumers, goods, and services associated with these activities were qualified and valued in commercial settings. More specifically, we sought to look at practices and devices through which technologies and services associated with distributed generation and waste were valued as an economic good or asset and their relation to other, non-economic forms of valuation in relation to their environmental affordances.

• Distributed generation and circular economy as domestic technologies. We aimed to study the ecology of practices, technologies, and infrastructures through which distributed generation and waste management were enacted in domestic and local spaces. A central aspect of the study was to inquire about different forms of agency inscribed in the technologies and infrastructures that organize distributed energy generation and waste management.

The cases

​Distributed generation technologies and infrastructures. In the context of the current energy transition, domestic energy generation technologies, mainly solar PV systems, developed as one of the most visible alternatives to enable the transition to low-carbon lifestyles. While in Chile distributed generation was first introduced in the context of rural electrification initiatives, in recent years these types of technologies have been increasingly adopted by users connected to the electricity grid. The growing supply of these technologies, as well as their drop in cost, resulted in the development of a growing industry of services and technologies associated with this activity. At the same time, from the perspective of the State, new regulatory frameworks were developed to facilitate and regulate these technologies, such as Law 20.751 (2012) and the Energy Distribution Bill, which was being discussed. To study the social life of domestic distributed generation, we conducted the following activities: • Inquired about the techno-political process (the design of an energy distribution reform) and the parliamentary process (discussion in congress) associated with regulatory bodies relevant to distributed generation, and domestic energy generation in particular. • Conducted interviews and ethnographic case studies in organizations that develop and/or commercialize new technologies and services related to domestic energy generation. • Conducted interviews and ethnographic case studies in urban households that were currently in the process of adopting domestic generation technologies or that had adopted them recently.

To study the social life of distributed generation, we conducted the following activities: 

• Inquired about the techno-political process by which distributed generation and domestic energy generation were shaped as objects of regulation and government. 
• Conducted interviews and ethnographic case studies in organizations that develop and/or commercialize new technologies and services related to domestic energy generation and/or distributed generation. 
• Conducted interviews and ethnographic case studies in urban households that were currently in the process of adopting domestic generation technologies or that had adopted them recently. 

Researching waste management and circular economy technologies. Waste management historically constituted one of the main activities associated with sustainable consumption and low impact lifestyles. During recent years, this activity became more visible both in terms of adoption from users and the increasing prevalence of the business and policy narrative of the “circular economy.” This expansion was accompanied by growing efforts to develop regulations, policies, and infrastructures oriented towards promoting this activity, as expressed, for example, in Law 20.920, which attempted to impulse “circular economy” principles. Additionally, as in the case of distributed generation, the expansion of recycling and other types of waste management technologies and movements such as circular economy was accompanied by a growing global and local economic interest oriented not only towards spreading these activities but also towards capitalizing domestic waste and waste technologies.

To study waste management and circular economy, we conducted the following activities: 

• Inquired about the techno-political by which waste management was shaped as an object of regulation and government, in particular around the regulatory efforts to define and enact circular economy. 
• Conducted interviews and ethnographic case studies in organizations that develop and/or commercialize new technologies and services related to waste management. 
• Conducted interviews and ethnographic case studies in urban households in which recycling is an important activity, and/or that make use of emergent technologies and/or services related to domestic waste management.