Walking with Energy: challenging energy invisibility and connecting citizens with energy futures through participatory research

Since the shift away from burning solid fuels in the home, energy has become increasingly invisible in our daily lives and our contemporary relationship with energy is characterised by complete dependency and almost complete ignorance. The Walking with Energy project draws together a range of innovative research approaches to form a new research methodology that is social (offers opportunities for social learning), embedded (in the landscape in question), embodied (engages body and mind) and that is sensitive to the past. The resultant approach was tested through a pilot study which sought to better understand how our relationship with energy has evolved to become so distant and assess whether acts of research participation can promote a greater level of interest in and engagement with future energy policies and decisions amongst 'ordinary' citizens by enabling immersive first hand encounters with energy generation. Using a case study of an Energy from Waste facility in the UK, the pilot revealed that such an approach offers significant scope to go beyond a process of data collection and promote a reconnection between people and energy with the possibility of effecting lasting changes in environmental citizenship.