Tue
13
Jan
Seminars and Conferences
More and more and more. Problematizing transition within a new history of energy
The event, entitled More, and more, and more. Problematizing the concept of transition within a new history of energy, will take place on Tuesday, 13 January 2026, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, at Corso Montevecchio 38, and will feature Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, historian of science, technology, and the environment, Research Director at the CNRS and Professor at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. The meeting will be introduced by Vera Tripodi, Professor of Ethics of Technology at the Politecnico di Torino, with Ilenia Picardi and Dario Minervini from University of Naples Federico II participating as discussants, and will be moderated by Claudio Coletta from University of Bologna.
Abstract
This talk invites a radical rethinking of the history of energy, highlighting the issues inherent in the very concept of “transition.” A careful reading reveals how materials and energy sources are profoundly intertwined, how their consumption grows together, and how, far from replacing each other, they tend to accumulate over time. Why, then, has the idea of an “energy transition” gained such traction? And how has a future without a past—given that no true historical energy transitions exist—become the horizon of governments, businesses, and experts since the 1970s? The stakes are crucial: reconstructing the history of energy starting from the relationships between its sources allows us to understand both their tenacious persistence and the profound obstacles that hinder decarbonization and threaten its success.
Speaker: Jean-Baptiste Fressoz – EHESS–CNRS, Centre des Recherches Historiques
Biography
Jean-Baptiste Fressoz is a historian of science, technology, and the environment. He is a Research Director at the CNRS and a Professor at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, as well as a member of the Centre des Recherches Historiques at the EHESS. His research focuses on environmental history, the history of climate knowledge, the Anthropocene, and the energy transition. He writes a monthly column for the newspaper Le Monde.
He has recently published Sans transition: Une nouvelle histoire de l’énergie (Seuil, 2024), translated into English as More and more and more. An all-consuming history of energy (HarperCollins / Penguin, 2024).
The event will be held in English.
Abstract
This talk invites a radical rethinking of the history of energy, highlighting the issues inherent in the very concept of “transition.” A careful reading reveals how materials and energy sources are profoundly intertwined, how their consumption grows together, and how, far from replacing each other, they tend to accumulate over time. Why, then, has the idea of an “energy transition” gained such traction? And how has a future without a past—given that no true historical energy transitions exist—become the horizon of governments, businesses, and experts since the 1970s? The stakes are crucial: reconstructing the history of energy starting from the relationships between its sources allows us to understand both their tenacious persistence and the profound obstacles that hinder decarbonization and threaten its success.
Speaker: Jean-Baptiste Fressoz – EHESS–CNRS, Centre des Recherches Historiques
Biography
Jean-Baptiste Fressoz is a historian of science, technology, and the environment. He is a Research Director at the CNRS and a Professor at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, as well as a member of the Centre des Recherches Historiques at the EHESS. His research focuses on environmental history, the history of climate knowledge, the Anthropocene, and the energy transition. He writes a monthly column for the newspaper Le Monde.
He has recently published Sans transition: Une nouvelle histoire de l’énergie (Seuil, 2024), translated into English as More and more and more. An all-consuming history of energy (HarperCollins / Penguin, 2024).
The event will be held in English.
13 January 2026 at 3,00 pm
Corso Montevecchio 38, Torino