Energy as object and relation: Thermodynamics, space, and emergent energy geographies

A fundamental question in energy geographies is how the materiality of energy should be conceptualised. In the physical sciences, energy is a concept of thermodynamics, but this is a kind of materiality that has received little attention in energy geographies. This article engages with recent social-science energy research on thermodynamics to conceptualise a continuous, relational mode of materiality. This contrasts with the discrete, object-like material properties of resources and socio-technical systems that condition social practice. Energy, I argue, is a spatiotemporal relation that shapes the contexts in which object-like properties come to matter. First, the article introduces space as a keyword in a longstanding debate on the relationship between entropy and the irreversibility of time. When entropy, time, and space are understood as imbricated phenomena, unanswered questions of political economy emerge. Second, I review discussions in the history of the science of thermodynamics. These focus on the extent to which thermodynamics inscribes the spatiotemporal relations it defines with political content. The political implications of thermodynamic knowledge have to be studied through open-ended questions in a wide range of contexts. More research is needed, therefore, to nuance our understanding of energy's materiality and thermodynamics. This involves the role of labour and the human body in infrastructural systems. It also includes the economic, political, and discursive work performed in sustaining the flow of energy in social practices.