Infrastructures Of Consumption ─ Environmental Innovation In The Utility Industries

Recent transformations in the way utilities are operated in Europe have challenged the status quo, resulting in some startling changes for consumers and providers alike; it seems, finally, that the rules of supply and demand are going to apply more and more. Concerned that the same way of doing business in the US has resulted in some well-known failures, the authors assert that production of more sustainable systems of utility provision requires adjustments in both collective social and material arrangements. Using case studies from The Netherlands and the UK, they show how this new landscape links utilities and users, how infrastructural change can result in sustainable consumption, how differentiation and choice affect water, electricity and waste services, how agencies can use shifting scales and co-production of green grids to better meet demand and use new modes of sustainable provision, why improvements depend on restructuring demand and efficiency as well as technical innovation. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Bas van Vliet is Senior Lecturer at the Environmental Policy Group, Social Sciences Group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Heather Chappells is Research Associate, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, UK. Elizabeth Shove is Reader in Sociology, Lancaster University