This project explores the ways in which the ongoing energy transition shapes relations between humans and the underground. Taking human-underground relations as foundational for the sociopolitical organisation of contemporary society, the project traces how these relations are formed and shaped through three case studies (domestic ground source heat pumps, regional geothermal heat projects and a national geological disposal project). The underground is often viewed as separate from society, yet the transition multiplies human-underground contacts through new technologies with unexplored consequences for humans and the underground alike. Drawing on ethnographic methods and science and technology studies, the project examines how society and the underground are formed and constituted in relation to each other in and through the energy transition, and maps what the consequences of intensifying exploitation of underground resources are for society and the underground alike.

2024

2028