Pub Date : 2025-02-21DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103990
Stephen Bull , Koral Buch , Coco Freling , Scott Hardman , Jeremy Firestone
This study investigates household decisions regarding adoption of solar panels and plug-in electric vehicles in the United States (CA, CO, FL, MA, MN, TX, VA). Although the adoption of each technology is well-documented, the dynamics of their co-adoption have been understudied. This study uses Theory of Consumption Values to investigate co-adoption decisions. Employing qualitative interviews with co-adopters and single technology adopters, this research uncovers underlying motivations and challenges associated with co-adoption. The study reveals that co-adoption is primarily driven by a blend of functional, emotional, social, epistemic, and conditional values. Key findings indicate that direct connections between the adoption of electric vehicles and solar (conditional value) are uncommon. Instead, many co-adoption decisions are made independently, guided by overlapping consumption values. The study also identifies challenges to co-adoption, including cost, lack of knowledge, and perceived technology incompatibilities. These insights contribute to the broader understanding of complementarity in sustainable technology adoption by households. They also highlight the need for approaches that address identified barriers and facilitate the transition of single adopters to co-adopters.
{"title":"Electric vehicles and rooftop solar energy: Consumption values influencing decisions and barriers to co-adoption in the United States","authors":"Stephen Bull , Koral Buch , Coco Freling , Scott Hardman , Jeremy Firestone","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103990","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103990","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates household decisions regarding adoption of solar panels and plug-in electric vehicles in the United States (CA, CO, FL, MA, MN, TX, VA). Although the adoption of each technology is well-documented, the dynamics of their co-adoption have been understudied. This study uses Theory of Consumption Values to investigate co-adoption decisions. Employing qualitative interviews with co-adopters and single technology adopters, this research uncovers underlying motivations and challenges associated with co-adoption. The study reveals that co-adoption is primarily driven by a blend of functional, emotional, social, epistemic, and conditional values. Key findings indicate that direct connections between the adoption of electric vehicles and solar (conditional value) are uncommon. Instead, many co-adoption decisions are made independently, guided by overlapping consumption values. The study also identifies challenges to co-adoption, including cost, lack of knowledge, and perceived technology incompatibilities. These insights contribute to the broader understanding of complementarity in sustainable technology adoption by households. They also highlight the need for approaches that address identified barriers and facilitate the transition of single adopters to co-adopters.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103990"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143465040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-21DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103996
Rohit Gupta , Denise L. Mauzerall , Sara Constantino , Gregg Sparkman , Malini Nambiar , Elke Weber
Rapid deployment of smart meters can expedite the decarbonization of the electricity sector by facilitating effective demand-side management strategies, providing essential feedback to consumers for monitoring their consumption, improving energy accounting, and augmenting the financial solvency of the power sector. However, most of the research on the uptake of smart meters has been conducted in developed nations, where there is better electricity infrastructure and distribution services are often privatized. Understanding the factors influencing smart meter uptake is especially important in developing nations where per capita incomes are rising and consumers' energy consumption will profoundly impact the trajectory of global carbon emissions. Here we identify factors influencing consumers' willingness to adopt smart meters in the city of Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan in India. Based on survey responses from >5000 consumers, our study is the first to examine consumers' reactions towards smart meter installations while meters were being installed in their households, by a state-owned Indian distribution company. In contrast to developed countries, we find that consumers in our study area were mostly concerned about the accuracy of smart meters and the consequent impact on their electricity bills, rather than about data privacy and security. We also find that in addition to various socio-economic factors, community mobilization and local political context impact consumers' decision-making. Smart meters provide electricity distribution companies with a unique set of opportunities (e.g., improving their financial condition and increasing the transparency of meter readings) and challenges (e.g., obtaining public confidence and addressing employee concerns). Our findings suggest that policymakers should consider local socioeconomic, cultural, and political circumstances to accelerate the speed and success of smart meter deployment.
{"title":"Overcoming barriers and seizing opportunities for smart meters in developing countries: Insights from a large-scale field study in India","authors":"Rohit Gupta , Denise L. Mauzerall , Sara Constantino , Gregg Sparkman , Malini Nambiar , Elke Weber","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103996","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103996","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rapid deployment of smart meters can expedite the decarbonization of the electricity sector by facilitating effective demand-side management strategies, providing essential feedback to consumers for monitoring their consumption, improving energy accounting, and augmenting the financial solvency of the power sector. However, most of the research on the uptake of smart meters has been conducted in developed nations, where there is better electricity infrastructure and distribution services are often privatized. Understanding the factors influencing smart meter uptake is especially important in developing nations where per capita incomes are rising and consumers' energy consumption will profoundly impact the trajectory of global carbon emissions. Here we identify factors influencing consumers' willingness to adopt smart meters in the city of Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan in India. Based on survey responses from >5000 consumers, our study is the first to examine consumers' reactions towards smart meter installations while meters were being installed in their households, by a state-owned Indian distribution company. In contrast to developed countries, we find that consumers in our study area were mostly concerned about the accuracy of smart meters and the consequent impact on their electricity bills, rather than about data privacy and security. We also find that in addition to various socio-economic factors, community mobilization and local political context impact consumers' decision-making. Smart meters provide electricity distribution companies with a unique set of opportunities (e.g., improving their financial condition and increasing the transparency of meter readings) and challenges (e.g., obtaining public confidence and addressing employee concerns). Our findings suggest that policymakers should consider local socioeconomic, cultural, and political circumstances to accelerate the speed and success of smart meter deployment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103996"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143453637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103986
Ibrahim Adeiza Ahmed, Etiene Effiong, Lalitha Shanmugasundaram, Lucy Hummer, Robert W. Orttung, Ekundayo Shittu
A disconnect exists between theoretical conceptualizations of energy justice and the practical, policy-oriented approaches needed for real-world decision making and program implementation. Greater attention to quantifying energy justice will likely increase support for high-energy-burden households by facilitating the development of evidence-based, measurable, and targeted policy interventions to better address the needs of marginalized communities. To fill this gap, we develop a conceptual framework that integrates distributive, recognition, and procedural dimensions into quantifying energy justice using Washington, D.C. as a case study. The research employs a set of six metrics - energy burden, renewable energy access, service disconnections, system reliability, utility affordability programs, and public participation - to assess equity across socio-economic groups. Findings reveal that despite the presence of numerous affordability programs and the expansion of solar energy systems, energy affordability is still a significant challenge for low-income households, as evidenced by disproportionately high energy burdens and utility disconnections in vulnerable communities. Additionally, participation in energy forums lacks inclusivity, highlighting a procedural justice gap. Although measuring any form of justice can be challenging, this study's framework provides a simple yet practical model that can be extended to other cities to evaluate energy policy impacts.
{"title":"Measuring the invisible: A framework for quantifying energy justice in urban communities in the United States","authors":"Ibrahim Adeiza Ahmed, Etiene Effiong, Lalitha Shanmugasundaram, Lucy Hummer, Robert W. Orttung, Ekundayo Shittu","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103986","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103986","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A disconnect exists between theoretical conceptualizations of energy justice and the practical, policy-oriented approaches needed for real-world decision making and program implementation. Greater attention to quantifying energy justice will likely increase support for high-energy-burden households by facilitating the development of evidence-based, measurable, and targeted policy interventions to better address the needs of marginalized communities. To fill this gap, we develop a conceptual framework that integrates distributive, recognition, and procedural dimensions into quantifying energy justice using Washington, D.C. as a case study. The research employs a set of six metrics - energy burden, renewable energy access, service disconnections, system reliability, utility affordability programs, and public participation - to assess equity across socio-economic groups. Findings reveal that despite the presence of numerous affordability programs and the expansion of solar energy systems, energy affordability is still a significant challenge for low-income households, as evidenced by disproportionately high energy burdens and utility disconnections in vulnerable communities. Additionally, participation in energy forums lacks inclusivity, highlighting a procedural justice gap. Although measuring any form of justice can be challenging, this study's framework provides a simple yet practical model that can be extended to other cities to evaluate energy policy impacts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103986"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143445338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-19DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103984
Shin-etsu Sugawara
Despite the absence of observable deaths directly attributable to radiation exposure from the Fukushima disaster, its societal repercussions have been profound. The prevailing nuclear safety framework, focused primarily on radiation dose, fails to fully address the varied and complex realities of nuclear disasters and their societal implications. Drawing on insights from science and technology studies and the study of ignorance, this research examines how nuclear professionals in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan have conceptualized and delimited “societal risks” within the discourse of safety goals. An analysis of these three national contexts reveals that widely accepted practices among nuclear safety practitioners—specifically, the use of mortality risk as a benchmark for risk comparison and envelope thinking in deterministic safety assessments—have contributed to an epistemic hierarchy that systematically marginalizes societal consequences beyond radiation-induced fatalities. To counteract this hierarchy, the study proposes three strategies for integrating societal risks into the formulation of safety goals: broadening the definition of fatalities to include disaster-related deaths, introducing new objectives aimed at safeguarding societal values and functions, and deliberately omitting specific lower-level quantitative goals to trigger a state of chronic unease regarding the imponderable aspects of nuclear risk.
{"title":"Challenging epistemic hierarchy: Reincorporating societal risks into nuclear safety goals","authors":"Shin-etsu Sugawara","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103984","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103984","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite the absence of observable deaths directly attributable to radiation exposure from the Fukushima disaster, its societal repercussions have been profound. The prevailing nuclear safety framework, focused primarily on radiation dose, fails to fully address the varied and complex realities of nuclear disasters and their societal implications. Drawing on insights from science and technology studies and the study of ignorance, this research examines how nuclear professionals in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan have conceptualized and delimited “societal risks” within the discourse of safety goals. An analysis of these three national contexts reveals that widely accepted practices among nuclear safety practitioners—specifically, the use of mortality risk as a benchmark for risk comparison and envelope thinking in deterministic safety assessments—have contributed to an epistemic hierarchy that systematically marginalizes societal consequences beyond radiation-induced fatalities. To counteract this hierarchy, the study proposes three strategies for integrating societal risks into the formulation of safety goals: broadening the definition of fatalities to include disaster-related deaths, introducing new objectives aimed at safeguarding societal values and functions, and deliberately omitting specific lower-level quantitative goals to trigger a state of chronic unease regarding the imponderable aspects of nuclear risk.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103984"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143437997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-19DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103985
Kaiyuan Lin
This study investigates how local governments in China navigate energy efficiency and decarbonization policies, focusing on power rationing events in Y City and S City during 2020 and 2021. It introduces the concept of the “politics of ambiguity” to analyze how local governments exploit policy ambiguity—stemming from central mandates, resource constraints, and bounded rationality—to adapt and innovate under an authoritarian environmental governance framework. Y City's reactive, campaign-style governance highlighted how severe ambiguity can lead to inefficiencies and social disruptions. In contrast, S City's proactive, collaborative strategy demonstrated how ambiguity, when leveraged effectively, fosters stakeholder engagement, innovation, and more sustainable policy outcomes. This comparative analysis reveals the dual nature of ambiguity as both a constraint and an enabler, emphasizing its dynamic and iterative role in balancing central oversight with local discretion. The findings highlight the need for governance frameworks that support local adaptation and stakeholder participation, offering insights into China's energy transition and broader authoritarian governance contexts. By exploring ambiguity as an inherent feature of governance, this study sheds light on how local governments navigate central-local dynamics and adapt policy implementation strategies to address the challenges of energy transition within complex and evolving environmental governance systems.
{"title":"The politics of ambiguity: Local strategies in China's energy policy and governance","authors":"Kaiyuan Lin","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103985","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103985","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates how local governments in China navigate energy efficiency and decarbonization policies, focusing on power rationing events in Y City and S City during 2020 and 2021. It introduces the concept of the “politics of ambiguity” to analyze how local governments exploit policy ambiguity—stemming from central mandates, resource constraints, and bounded rationality—to adapt and innovate under an authoritarian environmental governance framework. Y City's reactive, campaign-style governance highlighted how severe ambiguity can lead to inefficiencies and social disruptions. In contrast, S City's proactive, collaborative strategy demonstrated how ambiguity, when leveraged effectively, fosters stakeholder engagement, innovation, and more sustainable policy outcomes. This comparative analysis reveals the dual nature of ambiguity as both a constraint and an enabler, emphasizing its dynamic and iterative role in balancing central oversight with local discretion. The findings highlight the need for governance frameworks that support local adaptation and stakeholder participation, offering insights into China's energy transition and broader authoritarian governance contexts. By exploring ambiguity as an inherent feature of governance, this study sheds light on how local governments navigate central-local dynamics and adapt policy implementation strategies to address the challenges of energy transition within complex and evolving environmental governance systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103985"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143445339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-19DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103983
Nicholas Norman Adams
Scotland's North Sea offshore oil-drilling-fields have long been stereotyped as sites reinforcing and reproducing unique forms of masculinities aligning with hegemonic masculinity (HM) descriptors: stoicism, competition, and conflict. Oilfields encompass near-all-male workplaces, requiring labour in difficult conditions, distancing from friends, family, and home life. Emerging research in oilfields has begun to resist the HM-stereotype in favour of complex understandings of masculinities, labour-and-identity performances. This work details findings from a lengthy ‘embedded’ ethnography of the UK Offshore Oilfield. Specifically, highlighting and discussing men's metaphorical ‘mask wearing’ practices: the process by which oilmen engaged in complex performances of masculinities that resist HM yet retained overt components of stoicism; a key HM-descriptor. This ‘masked’ stoicism was presented and performed in unique ways that bridged genuine and non-genuine performances of oilfield masculine identities and interconnected with resistances against risk-taking and supports for safety. Goffman's dramaturgical perspective is applied to deepen and interrogate findings. Salient implications for oilmen's wellbeing, masculinities theory and future study are put forward.
{"title":"Men and the mask: Dramaturgical mask-wearing, masculinities and oilmen's ‘stoical’ emotional shielding practices in Scotland's offshore oilfields","authors":"Nicholas Norman Adams","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103983","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103983","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Scotland's North Sea offshore oil-drilling-fields have long been stereotyped as sites reinforcing and reproducing unique forms of masculinities aligning with <em>hegemonic masculinity</em> (HM) descriptors: stoicism, competition, and conflict. Oilfields encompass near-all-male workplaces, requiring labour in difficult conditions, distancing from friends, family, and home life. Emerging research in oilfields has begun to resist the HM-stereotype in favour of complex understandings of masculinities, labour-and-identity performances. This work details findings from a lengthy ‘embedded’ ethnography of the UK Offshore Oilfield. Specifically, highlighting and discussing men's metaphorical ‘mask wearing’ practices: the process by which oilmen engaged in complex performances of masculinities that resist HM yet retained overt components of stoicism; a key HM-descriptor. This ‘masked’ stoicism was presented and performed in unique ways that bridged genuine and non-genuine performances of oilfield masculine identities and interconnected with resistances against risk-taking and supports for safety. Goffman's dramaturgical perspective is applied to deepen and interrogate findings. Salient implications for oilmen's wellbeing, masculinities theory and future study are put forward.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103983"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143437996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-18DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103992
Richard Waldron , Shane Sugrue , Neil Simcock , Lorraine Holloway
This paper deploys the concept of ‘precariousness’ to examine the combined impacts of insecure and unaffordable housing and energy conditions on Irish households. Energy poverty is a major societal challenge as households struggle with rising energy costs and energy insecurity, which is then amplified by poor housing conditions, tenure insecurity and housing unaffordability. However, despite increasing research attention, the combined impacts of precarious housing and energy conditions are rarely considered together, or how this ‘double precarity’ might be distributed across social groups. Furthermore, it is unclear how precarious housing and energy conditions have evolved over time or in response to political-economic or energy market shocks. To address this gap, this paper connects debates within the energy poverty literature to more recent work on precarious housing. The paper develops a novel Housing-Energy Precarity Index (2020−2022) and applies it to data on Irish households (EU-SILC). It analyses the combined impacts of housing and energy precarity across housing tenures, demographic and socio-economic groups. We find that housing tenure is a particularly strong predictor of housing-energy precarity, and that private renters, low income groups, lone parents and younger persons (<25 years) are particularly exposed to this combined effect. The results will deliver pragmatic contributions for policy makers and practitioners at the intersection of housing and energy.
{"title":"Precarious lives: Exploring the intersection of insecure housing and energy conditions in Ireland","authors":"Richard Waldron , Shane Sugrue , Neil Simcock , Lorraine Holloway","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103992","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103992","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper deploys the concept of <em>‘precariousness’</em> to examine the combined impacts of insecure and unaffordable housing and energy conditions on Irish households. Energy poverty is a major societal challenge as households struggle with rising energy costs and energy insecurity, which is then amplified by poor housing conditions, tenure insecurity and housing unaffordability. However, despite increasing research attention, the combined impacts of precarious housing and energy conditions are rarely considered together, or how this <em>‘double precarity’</em> might be distributed across social groups. Furthermore, it is unclear how precarious housing and energy conditions have evolved over time or in response to political-economic or energy market shocks. To address this gap, this paper connects debates within the energy poverty literature to more recent work on precarious housing. The paper develops a novel Housing-Energy Precarity Index (2020−2022) and applies it to data on Irish households (EU-SILC). It analyses the combined impacts of housing and energy precarity across housing tenures, demographic and socio-economic groups. We find that housing tenure is a particularly strong predictor of housing-energy precarity, and that private renters, low income groups, lone parents and younger persons (<25 years) are particularly exposed to this combined effect. The results will deliver pragmatic contributions for policy makers and practitioners at the intersection of housing and energy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"121 ","pages":"Article 103992"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143427991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-18DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103958
Julius Wesche, Tomas Moe Skjølsvold
This perspective article introduces legitimacy transfer as a novel concept within the broader framework of multi-system interaction in socio-technical transitions research. Multi-system interaction examines how resources and dynamics flow across socio-technical system boundaries, shaping transitions to sustainability. Legitimacy transfer, which is a specific form of multi-system interaction, refers to the shift of perceived legitimacy between socio-technical configurations, thereby enabling actors to strategically influence societal acceptance, mobilize resources, and attract investment. The perspective develops a typology of legitimacy transfer with three forms: legitimacy sharing, where both configurations benefit; legitimacy exchange, where legitimacy flows reciprocally with no net gain or loss; and legitimacy capture, where powerful actors attract legitimacy across system boundaries by exploiting the weaker configuration. Two empirical cases illustrate these dynamics. The first examines how oil and gas incumbents in the United States use direct air carbon capture (DAC) technology to enhance the perceived sustainability of fossil fuel products, thereby potentially deteriorating the socio-political legitimacy of the emerging DAC system. The second focuses on Norwegian oil and gas actors that are electrifying offshore rigs with renewable energy, reframing fossil fuel operations as environmentally friendly. This article advances sustainability transitions research by integrating legitimacy transfer into the study of multi-system interactions, and providing a conceptual lens through which to understand power dynamics and strategic behavior. It underscores the importance of analyzing legitimacy flows to foster equitable and effective sustainability transitions.
{"title":"Legitimacy transfer: A typology for multi-system interactions in sustainability transitions","authors":"Julius Wesche, Tomas Moe Skjølsvold","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103958","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103958","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This perspective article introduces legitimacy transfer as a novel concept within the broader framework of multi-system interaction in socio-technical transitions research. Multi-system interaction examines how resources and dynamics flow across socio-technical system boundaries, shaping transitions to sustainability. Legitimacy transfer, which is a specific form of multi-system interaction, refers to the shift of perceived legitimacy between socio-technical configurations, thereby enabling actors to strategically influence societal acceptance, mobilize resources, and attract investment. The perspective develops a typology of legitimacy transfer with three forms: legitimacy sharing, where both configurations benefit; legitimacy exchange, where legitimacy flows reciprocally with no net gain or loss; and legitimacy capture, where powerful actors attract legitimacy across system boundaries by exploiting the weaker configuration. Two empirical cases illustrate these dynamics. The first examines how oil and gas incumbents in the United States use direct air carbon capture (DAC) technology to enhance the perceived sustainability of fossil fuel products, thereby potentially deteriorating the socio-political legitimacy of the emerging DAC system. The second focuses on Norwegian oil and gas actors that are electrifying offshore rigs with renewable energy, reframing fossil fuel operations as environmentally friendly. This article advances sustainability transitions research by integrating legitimacy transfer into the study of multi-system interactions, and providing a conceptual lens through which to understand power dynamics and strategic behavior. It underscores the importance of analyzing legitimacy flows to foster equitable and effective sustainability transitions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"121 ","pages":"Article 103958"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143427990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-18DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103978
Vincent Weidenbörner , Marvin Gleue , Christoph Feldhaus , Madeline Werthschulte
Time-variant pricing and voluntary flexibility in private energy consumption have the potential to enhance demand sensitivity in electricity markets, playing crucial roles in the transition towards a greener energy system. This paper uses survey methods to examine the determinants of the stated willingness to adopt time-variant electricity tariffs. Based on a large population sample (N = 1200) from the most populous German federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia, we differentiate between the general willingness to adopt such tariffs and specific types, including time-of-use (TOU), critical-peak-pricing (CPP), and real-time-pricing (RTP) tariffs. Additionally, participants provide information on their willingness to adjust their electricity consumption in a timely manner. Our findings reveal that the stated willingness to adopt time-variant tariffs decreases as the potential price volatility increases. Moreover, there is a strong positive correlation between the willingness to adopt time-variant tariffs and the willingness to provide energy demand flexibility. The results of our analysis further indicate that early adopters of energy-efficient technologies and supporters of climate policies are more inclined towards time-variant pricing and providing flexibility in their electricity consumption. Economic preferences, such as loss aversion and present bias, appear to be particularly relevant for adopting the RTP tariff. These insights offer valuable guidance for promoting time-variant tariffs and flexible energy consumption, facilitating the adoption of efficient and sustainable energy systems.
{"title":"Which tariff to choose? How individual attitudes and preferences explain demand for flexible electricity tariffs in Germany","authors":"Vincent Weidenbörner , Marvin Gleue , Christoph Feldhaus , Madeline Werthschulte","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103978","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103978","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Time-variant pricing and voluntary flexibility in private energy consumption have the potential to enhance demand sensitivity in electricity markets, playing crucial roles in the transition towards a greener energy system. This paper uses survey methods to examine the determinants of the stated willingness to adopt time-variant electricity tariffs. Based on a large population sample (N = 1200) from the most populous German federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia, we differentiate between the general willingness to adopt such tariffs and specific types, including time-of-use (TOU), critical-peak-pricing (CPP), and real-time-pricing (RTP) tariffs. Additionally, participants provide information on their willingness to adjust their electricity consumption in a timely manner. Our findings reveal that the stated willingness to adopt time-variant tariffs decreases as the potential price volatility increases. Moreover, there is a strong positive correlation between the willingness to adopt time-variant tariffs and the willingness to provide energy demand flexibility. The results of our analysis further indicate that early adopters of energy-efficient technologies and supporters of climate policies are more inclined towards time-variant pricing and providing flexibility in their electricity consumption. Economic preferences, such as loss aversion and present bias, appear to be particularly relevant for adopting the RTP tariff. These insights offer valuable guidance for promoting time-variant tariffs and flexible energy consumption, facilitating the adoption of efficient and sustainable energy systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"121 ","pages":"Article 103978"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143428042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-18DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103962
Eva de Winkel , Zofia Lukszo , Mark Neerincx , Roel Dobbe
As renewable energy and electrification expand rapidly, many electrical distribution grids experience grid congestion. This situation leads to long waiting lists for parties seeking a new grid connection or aiming to expand their existing grid connection. In addition to traditional grid enforcements, distribution system operators are developing ways to manage congestion by steering electricity supply and demand. As grid congestion limits the previously abundant resource of grid capacity, the challenge of how to fairly distribute this now-scarce resource raises new questions about nondiscrimination and broader notions of justice. This study, grounded in energy justice, explores the distributive and procedural injustices people experience with increasing grid congestion. Our research focuses on The Netherlands, where more than 10,000 parties await new grid connections. Through 16 semi-structured interviews with people either affected by or involved in mitigating grid congestion, our thematic analysis reveals three key categories: (1) injustices arising from legacy policies, legislation, and social norms; (2) injustices due to unclear regulations, inconsistent policies, and policy gaps; and (3) injustices related to changing relationships between DSOs and affected parties. These findings highlight that grid congestion is fundamentally sociotechnical; while congestion is both constrained and addressed by technical factors, institutional and social factors such as legacy policies, social norms and communication, significantly influence perceptions of injustice. Our findings call for a comprehensive integration of justice principles within the institutional (e.g. regulation, policy, markets, social norms), technical (e.g. grid infrastructure, IT systems), and social (e.g. community engagement, communication) components of grid infrastructure.
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