Practice makes policy? The role of government and policy in shaping practices

Government and policy inevitably shape social practices. Both directly and indirectly, policy instruments can produce, configure, disperse and kill-off practices. How policy makers understand the nature of energy consumption crucially informs the design of policy interventions. The physical, technical and economic model (PTEM) of energy demand dominates policy, with little regard for how social norms, service expectations and always-changing practices influence the role of energy in everyday life