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 All energy sessions hereC.7 Taking care of energy infrastructuresLoloum, Tristan, Fürst, Moritz, Bovet, Alain(Université de Lausanne)The energy transition is often framed in termsof a technological challenge and an engineering problem, involving innovativedesign, efficient planning, and effective optimization of energyinfrastructures and the built environment. This innovation-centric view tendsto neglect the fact that ‘change’ often occurs once energy systems are alreadyin place, through incremental adaptations, additions and enhancements. Thefocus on engineers, planners and designers also puts aside the many actors incharge of operating and maintaining such systems on a daily basis: gridoperators, HVAC technicians, facility managers, installers, caretakers, etc.Drawing on authors like Maria Puig de laBellacasa (2017), Dona Haraway (2016) and Bruno Latour (2013), we argue thatfixing ‘things’ and taking care of energy infrastructure implies more thanmaintaining their technical functioning: it means caring for the people who usethem and their environments, and it requires active engagement, social skillsand a sense of concern towards associations between humans and non-humans. Thesession therefore extends on current debates in science and technology studiesand energy social science that (I) observe how classical dichotomies (e.g.between planning and operation, professionals and users, engineers andtechnicians, people and machines) are maintained, and sometimes contested andreconfigured; (II) investigate energy infrastructure and energy transition atthe level of everyday lay and professional care-taking activities, i.e.considering energy practices as situated and culturally embedded realitiesrather than in terms of dominant paradigms of technological innovation andeconomic rationality. This panel session invites contributors from all disciplinary horizons, looking at energy infrastructure “from below and within”, focusing on operation routines, control rooms, repair and maintenance, incremental improvements, “middle actors” (technicians, installers, controllers, caretakers, facility managers), disruption, practices of daily-use and socio-technical encounters. We particularly encourage prospective participants to emphasize the richness of empirical material in their presentations, exhibit visual and/or audio data, or even material objects that can form a basis for a fruitful discussion. If appropriate conditions are in place, the session will be introduced or followed up by a quick tour of the conference venue’s infrastructural backstage and a discussion with one of the building’s facility managers in order to get a concrete grasp of what energy infrastructure is, and what taking care of it actually entails.Theabstract needs to be submitted using the online form. It should not exceed 500 words,max. 5 keywords. Choose the number of the session in which your presentationshould be included (Thematic field “Towards Low-Carbon Energy Systems”;session “C.7 Taking care of energy infrastructures”).Submissiondeadline for abstracts is January 20, 2020.KEYWORDS: energy infrastructure, care,operation, repair &#38; maintenance, energy practices