The role of practice-based interventions in energy transitions: A framework for identifying types of work to scale up alternative practices

Practice-based interventions have recently emerged as one way to question established practices and experiment with new, less energy-intensive ones within households. Yet, how practice-based interventions contribute to energy transitions on a larger scale still awaits to answer. The challenge is that practices are embedded in local conditions and contexts; therefore, scaling up is not simply a matter of multiplying or transferring particular solutions at new sites and larger scales, but it requires dedicated work to translate and support the local reinvention of practices. Drawing on insights from Social Practice Theory, Strategic Niche Management and Institutional Entrepreneurship, we build a conceptual framework for analysing the types of work needed to scale up alternative, energy saving practices in practice-based interventions. Based on the empirical investigation of six European practice-based interventions and the work conducted by the organisers, researchers, participants and stakeholders of these interventions, we identified three types of work to scale up: (i) proximate work to make the practice transferable; (ii) work to gain allies and resonance for the practice; and (iii) work to shape the conditions for scaling up. The paper serves as a valuable resource for future interventions, providing a framework for researchers and practitioners to support scaling up of alternative practices for low-carbon energy transition.