In recent years, there has been growing interest in applying social practice theory to theorizing consumption, specifically in relation to transforming practices that have problematic environmental impacts. In this paper, we address the questions: how do changes in practices occur, and what are the levers for influencing change towards more sustainable consumption practices? We argue that a view of agency distributed across people, things and social contexts is fruitful. We also explore learning through membership in communities of practice, where people are involved in experiments with or exposure to new practices. We relate three case studies in the arena of food consumption practices then discuss the practicalities and pitfalls involved in translating social practice approaches into practicable recommendations for encouraging more sustainable forms of consumption.

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The subject of efficient technologies and how to get them into the homes and hands of users has been at the centre of energy efficiency policy from its inception. What the record shows is that efficient technologies may well increase the efficiency of energy throughput but that promised reductions in energy demand seldom pan out. Confronted with this problem, the usual policy approach has been to work harder to get markets, incentives and information to loosen up the 'barriers' to technology penetration. Social scientists have been recruited to facilitate markets with better information and incentives, in other words, to improve the behaviour of energy end-users. The paper argues that both technologists and behaviouralists have oversimplified the ways that technologies and socio-cultural contexts interact to affect energy-using practices. The concept of distributed agency is introduced to capture the theoretical link between technology and behaviour. The examples of air conditioning and food refrigeration are used to illustrate these points.

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