ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the stock of social scientific research on consumption that involves the utilization of what we call infrastructures of consumption. It also focuses on research that uses Social Practice Theory as a lens to study the dynamic relationships between conduct, meaning and systems of water and energy provision. The chapter then illustrates the dynamics in practices of toilet use and medicine use in an experimental case study involving 1,224 patients receiving a CT scan at a hospital in the Netherlands. It discusses the energy practices that emerge while major changes in electricity infrastructures towards 'smart' energy configurations are taking place. The chapter outlines how structural conditions should actually be understood to make them work for the greening of water and energy consumption practices. The admittedly wide-ranging empirical studies on water, toilet and energy practices reflect the dynamics that can be studied in the interrelations between consumption and provisioning systems.
