Much has been made of the promise of renewable forms of energy supply as a means of decarbonising the energy system whilst meeting current and future demand.
This photo essay draws on research into the history of energy systems to show that substituting one fuel for another is never straightforward. Historical cases and examples show how energy systems are layered and interwoven, and how they are embedded in society and in what people take to be normal ways of life. The essay also shows that energy infrastructures and related patterns of consumption and practice have legacies that matter for future and for the integration of new forms of provision and supply.
Wind farm at sunset. Cover image by Karsten Würth provided by Unsplash.
The UK’s energy system currently depends on a mixture of different fuels. These include nuclear power, fossil fuels like gas, oil and coal, and renewable sources such as wind and solar power. Meanwhile, methods of producing and distributing energy depend on a jumble of older and newer infrastructures and technologies that have to work together. The make-up of this system is changing.
At some times of day, and at some times of the year, renewable sources account for a significant proportion of supply. For example, on Easter Monday in 2021, 60% of electricity used that day came from wind and solar power, with nuclear and fossil fuels covering the remainder. It is true this was a windy and sunny day. It is also true that Covid-19 restrictions meant that demand was 5% lower than usual that day. The hope for the future is that low-carbon sources will have a much greater part in the overall mix of energy supply.
The energy system consists of a mixture of fuel sources and of old and new technologies. Photo by Ryan Searle, provided by Unsplash.
This will require changes in the source of energy and in how it is managed, distributed and consumed. Changes might include a move from gas boilers to heat pumps for central heating, from petrol and diesel to electricity for travel, or new ways of storing electricity and operating the grid.
Making greater use of intermittent supplies of renewable energy also depends on changing the extent and the timing of demand.
The hope is that new methods of storage and control will allow industrial users and domestic consumers to use energy at different times – for instance, refining metals or doing the laundry at nighttime when demand is low, or at certain times of the year when there might be a ‘glut’ of wind or solar power.
Current debates about the UK’s energy infrastructure are about how the current jumble (of fuels, infrastructures, technologies, and timings), might be developed and adapted with more renewable forms of energy infrastructure and supply to meet current and imagined future demand.
Renewable sources like wind or solar power do not produce energy all the time. Photo by Robert Gramner, provided by Unsplash.
The recent history of the area known as Docklands in London, England, is a good example.
When the docks were first built, London was one of the world’s largest ports, handling goods like tobacco, rice, spices, wine, and brandy from across the British Empire.
When cargo was containerised in the 1960s, the Port of London began to decline. Larger, deeper water harbours were required and by the 1980s the docks were derelict.
The London Docklands Development Corporation was formed in 1981 to redevelop the area.
Victoria Docks, London (1850) Engraving of ship in docks. Source: Walker, C (1969) Thomas Brassey, Railway Builder, provided by Wikimedia Commons.
The docks were converted into a mixture of residential, commercial and light industry space, including Canary Wharf, which is now one of the main financial centres in the United Kingdom.
When the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) was developed in 1987 it reused much of the old London and Blackwall Railway line as well as viaducts constructed in the 1840s.
Canary Wharf, London: Now one of the main financial centres in the UK. Photo by Dan Senior, provided by Unsplash.
The Docklands example shows that, infrastructures evolve and adapt alongside the ways of life they enable.
There is no blank slate, meaning that new roads, broadband networks or power supplies fit into, and become part of a changing landscape of social and physical arrangements.
A new road threaded through the infrastructure of Hong Kong. Photo by Robert Bye, provided by Unsplash.
Energy systems are the same.
Histories and technologies of provision are interwoven and bound up with also changing patterns of demand.
This is obvious if we think about gas. How much gas is needed, and when depends on what it is used for. Gas was first used in the home for lighting, and at this point, demand peaked during long winter nights.
Gas lamp. Photo by Tolga Ulkan, provided by Unsplash.
When gas cookers were introduced, less frequent but intense peaks emerged on Sundays and on special occasions like Christmas and Easter.
Now that gas is the main fuel used for central heating in the UK, seasonal swings in demand are even more important.
Gas lighting, gas cooking and gas central heating have changed the timing of gas demand during the day and over the year.
Photo by Kwon Junho, provided by Unsplash.
The conversion of the UK’s gas system from locally produced town gas to a national network of natural gas has transformed the way in which peaks are managed.
An interconnected gas network makes it possible to balance supply and demand by moving gas around the system as a whole.
The pipelines that link the UK’s gas system to Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland have the same effect but on an international scale.
Interconnector pipes link the UK's gas system with others. Photo by NPCA Online, provided by Flickr.
The day-to-day management of the UK’s gas supply depends on forecasting anticipated demand from domestic consumers and from industry, and responding to it, whether by importing gas from the rest of Europe, or storing it in the network for use at a later date.
The scale and diversity of the customer base and the size of the physical network are both important parts of this equation, but it would be wrong to conclude that supply is simply designed in response to existing demand.
Interconnected pipes make it possible to move gas around Europe and to take advantage of variations in demand. Photo by Nachtergaele Urbaine, provided by Unsplash.
Infrastructures are often built in anticipation of needs that do not yet exist, or that prove to be short lived.
During the First World War, Montreal’s hydroelectric energy system was rapidly expanded to enable the industrial production of munitions, weapons, ships, and uniforms.
Soldering at British Munitions Supply Co. Ltd. 1916-1918, in Verdun, Quebec. PA-024438 provided by Library and Archives Canada
When the First World War ended, much of this additional capacity was redundant.
Faced with this situation, the Montreal Heat and Power Company actively cultivated new demand.
It did so by actively promoting the use of electrically powered household appliances like refrigerators and vacuum cleaners and by promising to solve problems that had not existed before.
Concepts of novelty and convenience were part of this promotional ‘push’, and part of a deliberate effort to ‘make’ and not just meet demand.
Woman vacuuming, between 1915-1920. Provided by Flickr.
Wars affect the relation between supply and demand in other ways as well. For example, the division between East and West Berlin in 1948-9, directly affected the provision and management of gas and electricity supply in each half of this divided city.
East Berlin’s position as part of the German Democratic Republic meant that it had access to electricity and gas from the surrounding area as well as from the Soviet Union (in the 1970s).
By contrast, West Berlin was cut off from external sources and supplies. In an effort to become more self-sufficient, coal fired gas works were built in West Berlin between the 1950s and 1960s, but when gas was used for home heating in the 1970s, new pressures arose.
In both halves of the city, the demand for gas during the winter months outstripped supply. In the East the response was to focus on energy saving, and on setting targets that were enforced by special inspectors.
In the West, the strategy was to find ways of meeting rising demand. Drilling revealed underground structures capable of storing enough gas to supply West Berlin for a year and in the 1980s, there was finally an agreement to import gas from the Soviet Union via East German pipelines.
Berlin Wall. Photo by Carl Graph provided by Flickr. CC-BY-ND 2.0.
As this example shows, developments in national and international politics are hugely important in shaping infrastructures and in making the networks and systems of provision that we rely on today.
Exactly what is involved in balancing supply and demand in real time depends on these historical legacies, on the capacities and characteristics of the networks involved, and on what energy is used for and when.
Workers walking the pipeline. Provided by RIAN archive, Orenburg-Western Border Pipeline, E. Kotliakov / Э. Котляков. CC BY-SA 3.0.
The people who work in gas or electricity control rooms manage energy flows through a patchwork of technologies and systems, some of which were built decades ago. These are crucial for the geographical extent of the network and for variations in consumption and demand.
Keeping these systems in balance calls for local skills and knowledge and a range of more and less formalised working practices - within the control room, and between control room operators and those responsible for other aspects of distribution, safety and maintenance.
In short, relations between supply and demand are defined by institutional arrangements, as well as by the histories and politics of provision.
Electricity Infrastructure Operations Centre Tour. Courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, provided by Flickr.
This photo essay reveals the enduring legacies of past energy infrastructures and of ways of using energy, showing how supply and demand constitute each other and how past and present arrangements shape the future. Moving towards a lower carbon society is about reworking the balance and configuration of energy systems across the board. This is not just a matter of substituting one fuel for another or introducing more renewable forms of supply.
Efforts to decarbonise supply take place within and as part of an existing web of social and infrastructural relations, rooted in institutions and ideologies of the past. Related legacies of provision and practice are crucial for the practicalities and politics of making greater use of intermittent sources of wind and solar power.
Existing infrastructures. Photo by Dhruv Weaver, provided by Unsplash.
Written by Carolynne Lord (c.lord@lancaster.ac.uk), Elizabeth Shove (e.shove@lancaster.ac.uk) and Stanley Blue (s.blue@lancaster.ac.uk).