There is broad agreement that the need to decarbonise and make better use of renewable and more intermittent sources of power will require increased flexibility in energy systems. However, organisations involved in the energy sector work with very different interpretations of what this might involve. In describing how the notion of flexibility is reified, commodified, and operationalised in sometimes disparate and sometimes connected ways, we show that matters of time and timing are routinely abstracted from the social practices and forms of provision on which the rhythms of supply and demand depend. We argue that these forms of abstraction have the ironic effect of stabilising interpretations of need and demand, and of limiting rather than enabling the emergence of new practices and patterns of demand alongside, and as part of, a radically decarbonised energy system. One way out of this impasse is to conceptualise flexibility as an emergent outcome of the sequencing and synchronisation of social practices. To do so requires a more integrated and historical account of how supply and demand constitute each other and how both are implicated in the temporal organisation of everyday life. It follows that efforts to promote flexibility in the energy sector need to look beyond systems of provision, price, technology, and demand-side management narrowly defined, and instead focus on the social rhythms and the timing of what people do.

中文翻译：

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概念化灵活性：能源部门对时间和社会的具有挑战性的表述*

人们普遍认为，要实现脱碳并更好地利用可再生和间歇性更强的能源，能源系统将需要增加灵活性。然而，参与能源部门的组织对这可能涉及的内容有非常不同的解释。在描述灵活性的概念如何以有时不同有时相互联系的方式具体化、商品化和操作时，我们表明时间和时间问题通常从供需节奏所依赖的社会实践和供应形式中抽象出来。 . 我们认为，这些抽象形式具有讽刺性的效果，可以稳定对需求和需求的解释，并限制而不是促进新实践和需求模式的出现，并作为其中的一部分。一个彻底脱碳的能源系统。摆脱这种僵局的一种方法是将灵活性概念化为社会实践排序和同步的新兴结果。要做到这一点，需要对供给和需求如何相互构成以及两者如何涉及日常生活的时间组织进行更综合的历史解释。因此，促进能源部门灵活性的努力需要超越狭隘定义的供应、价格、技术和需求侧管理系统，而是关注社会节奏和人们做事的时机。要做到这一点，需要对供给和需求如何相互构成以及两者如何涉及日常生活的时间组织进行更综合的历史解释。因此，促进能源部门灵活性的努力需要超越狭隘定义的供应、价格、技术和需求侧管理系统，而是关注社会节奏和人们做事的时机。要做到这一点，需要对供给和需求如何相互构成以及两者如何涉及日常生活的时间组织进行更综合的历史解释。因此，促进能源部门灵活性的努力需要超越狭隘定义的供应、价格、技术和需求侧管理系统，而是关注社会节奏和人们做事的时机。