Energy Research & Social Science最新文献

英文中文

The infrastructural ecologies of industrial decarbonisation: Visual methods and psychosocial logics in place-based public engagement

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103874

Harriet Smith , Karen Henwood , Nick Pidgeon

Major changes to land and sea infrastructure are underway to achieve decarbonisation of energy generation and industrial processes. People who live and work locally alongside energy production and industrial sites will most intensely experience the transitions. There are growing calls within the environment and climate change fields, and aligned social justice and policy research, to address how such change risks producing inequalities from the economic, spatial and political impacts. This paper presents research on public responses to industrial decarbonisation gathered from deliberative workshops carried out in Wales, UK. The paper offers a reframing of place that we term infrastructural ecologies, encapsulating the understanding of place as porous in relation to global flows whilst holding distinctive local attributes. The turn to infrastructure has shown place to involve ongoing constellations of material techno-functions entwined with psychic and sensory experiences. Change-making requires deepened understanding of how opinions are formed and remain in flux. We present a novel methodology to engage people across cognitive, emotional and affective registers. Central to the research is the use of photographs that provided tools to situate professional visions within everyday locales and meaning making as one way to level uneven power relations inherent in professionalised future visions. The paper utilises object relations theories to analyse how lively objects and psychic mechanisms are active in opinion making processes. Our discussion offers a deepened understanding of how decarbonisation of industry could align to shared goals amounting to a future that also aims to achieve social justice.

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引用次数: 0

Seas of change: An evolving imaginary of offshore energy capture on the United Kingdom's Continental Shelf

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103889

Naima Kraushaar-Friesen , Gavin Bridge , Magdalena Kuchler

The offshore waters surrounding the United Kingdom have been an important national space for energy capture for over six decades. Hosting oil and gas production, large-scale renewable electricity generation and potential sites for carbon storage, the United Kingdom's Continental Shelf is now a key site within national plans for energy transition and pathways to net zero. This paper critically examines an evolving national imaginary of energy capture on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) since the 1960s. It deploys the conceptual framework of sociotechnical imaginaries to explore offshore energy materials and infrastructures as key sites through which shared ideas about nationhood, modernisation and the exercise of geopolitical leadership are reproduced. Drawing on historical and contemporary energy policy documents, we argue that the potential for energy capture on the UKCS has served as a critical ‘imaginative resource’ over time for constructing national visions of social order. We identify and analyse four distinct phases in the evolution of this imaginary about the role of offshore energy capture in national life: economic recovery, market society, energy transition, and net-zero basin. The paper's novel focus on offshore energies expands understanding of the state's role in forging and sustaining a national imaginary around distributed energy materials and infrastructures. By exploring how a sociotechnical imaginary takes shape around certain material qualities offshore, and how these qualities are then a source of (generative) friction in the evolution and sustainability of the imaginary over time, we advance work at the intersection of materialities and sociotechnical imaginaries.

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引用次数: 0

A multi-level perspective on technological advancement in China's natural gas industry

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103877

Junhua Chen , Qiuhong Zeng

The third global energy transition is progressing unevenly, leading to complex challenges worldwide. As China accelerates its energy transition to mitigate carbon emissions, the natural gas industry has become a focal point of development. The present study examines the current state of the Chinese natural gas industry and explores strategies to overcome technical barriers. An enhanced multi-level perspective (MLP) framework that incorporates the concepts of technology integration and diffusion is proposed. With data from 2011 to 2022, a ridge regression model is employed to analyze the impact of these technological factors on the upstream natural gas sector in China. A case study is performed to assess the strategic interplay between technology integration and diffusion. The results demonstrate that (1) China's natural gas industry has reached a technical bottleneck and inefficient development, facing challenges such as the advancement of disruptive and generic technologies; (2) the selected indicators positively and significantly influence natural gas production, demonstrating that technology integration and diffusion are beneficial for the industry's growth; (3) the improved MLP framework broadens its application, providing a pathway for technological advancement in emerging economies or developing countries. Targeted recommendations in technology integration, technical exchange, personnel training, and policy design are provided.

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引用次数: 0

China's rise, public opinion, and growing interventionism in South America's electricity industry

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103927

Ariel.A. Casarin , Angel Saz-Carranza

China's ascent as an economic powerhouse has sparked debates over the effectiveness of dirigisme versus liberalization in key economic sectors. We study whether the modest progress in and reversals of neoliberal reforms in South America's electricity markets can be connected to China's rise as a global actor and its unique form of state capitalism. We propose that countries in which public opinion favored China over the United States were more likely to tilt from regulatory to state capitalism in governing their electricity sectors. We find robust support that increased favorable public opinion of China vis-a-vis the United States precedes the reversal of neoliberal reforms in electricity markets, shifting energy policy in those countries towards increasing interventionism. We demonstrate that the public does not need to hold specific opinions about a sector's governance to influence it. Public opinion, shaped by a role model exemplifying a particular form of capitalism, can impact the governance structure of strategic industries, such as the electricity sector.

引用次数: 0

Lithium dreams, local struggles: Navigating the geopolitics and socio-ecological costs of a low-carbon future

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103952

Muhammad Sikandar Ali Chaudary

The global push towards renewable energy has surged the demand for lithium, which is vital for manufacturing batteries that power electric vehicles and stabilize energy grids. This literature review examines global lithium extraction's environmental and socio-political costs to highlight the tensions between sustainable development and extractive practices in the lithium industry. A comprehensive subset of scholarship reports the degradation of ecosystems, the commodification of Indigenous lands, and the erosion of biodiversity. Scholars have attributed lithium's socio-ecological cost to green extractivism, where the green agenda promotes extractive practices reminiscent of the fossil fuel era. A second strain of literature delves into how lithium is discursively framed and legitimized through ‘sociotechnical imaginaries’ (STI). Those imaginaries embody how societies collectively envision lithium's role in shaping future socio-political and economic structures, particularly regarding national identity, sovereignty, and sustainable progress. Additionally, these imaginaries highlight the tensions between local communities, national governments, and global stakeholders over extraction's socio-environmental costs. Finally, studies also discuss the geopolitical dimensions of lithium supply chains, particularly the tensions between China and Western economies over control of critical minerals—the fight for geopolitical dominance perpetuates colonial dynamics by both stakeholders. The findings underscore the need for more sustainable extraction policies and equitable governance mechanisms that account for the socio-environmental challenges posed by lithium mining in the context of global climate goals.

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引用次数: 0

Electrifying company cars? The effects of incentives and tax benefits on electric vehicle sales in 31 European countries

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103914

Hendrik Schub , Patrick Plötz , Frances Sprei

Battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles have remarkable potential to reduce CO₂ emissions in road transport. Many governments have introduced incentives to accelerate the market penetration of these vehicles and several studies have shown their effectiveness. Vehicles owned by a company but allowed for private use by employees – so-called company cars – represent a large new car market in Europe. However, little is known about the effect of incentives beyond the early market stages and the effect of company car incentives. Here, we use panel data regression to estimate the effect of purchase incentives on battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle sales in 31 European countries from 2010 to 2022. We thus go beyond early market studies and obtain the first empirical estimate of the effect of company car incentives on electric vehicle sales. We find that a €1000 per year recurring incentive for company cars increases sales shares relatively by 50–90 % for plug-in hybrids and by 17–40 % for battery electric vehicles, e.g., from 10 % without incentive to 15–19 % or 12–14 %, respectively. Our results confirm the impact of purchase incentives and demonstrate the importance of company car taxation on electric vehicle sales.

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引用次数: 0

Staying cool at home: Cooling practices, barriers, and possibilities for disabled people's experiences of managing summer heat in Aotearoa New Zealand

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103895

Rachel Kowalchuk Dohig , Kimberley Clare O'Sullivan , Angela-Marie Desmarais , Sarah Bierre

Drawing on results from a novel online qualitative survey, we explore the experiences of disabled people residing in Aotearoa New Zealand during the summer months, considering how individuals manage home temperature, how well their dwellings support their thermal needs, and any barriers to preferred cooling practices. Disabled people are disproportionately impacted by climate change, while at the same time facing poor quality, inaccessible and inappropriate housing and high rates of energy poverty. Some members of the community also have physical thermoregulation needs requiring specific indoor temperatures. It is therefore important that the voices of disabled people are prioritised when considering policy responses to changing cooling practices and needs in a warming environment. Data from an online qualitative survey were analysed using thematic analysis to determine key themes: “Just getting through”; ‘Control over the home space’; and ‘Access and inclusion.’ These themes address participants' extensive efforts to maintain thermal comfort due to the significant risks of unhealthy thermal environments, the interpersonal dynamics at play within households, and the barriers to accessing the wider built environment due to poor thermal conditions. These findings assert the need for more research and practice to support the thermal wellbeing of disabled people in Aotearoa New Zealand, year-round. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of qualitative survey as a method for environmental health research, especially as an accessible way for disabled people to participate in research.

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引用次数: 0

Recycling energy landscapes: Addressing the sustainable legacy of the world's largest enterprise

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103906

Martin J. Pasqualetti , Richard C. Smardon

This article examines how energy landscapes can be transformed and how we can apply the niche effect of diffusion and adoption of innovation in recycling such energy landscapes into more sustainable reuse. As such, recycling our energy landscapes helps meet the needs of the present while incorporating prudence, intergenerational equity, precaution, responsibility, and governance. We examine how the energy landscapes of the present we are creating today can be reused indefinity for the benefit of all who come after us. Using examples largely from the United States and Germany, we address (1) an emerging process by seeking a meta-frame to encompass a developing and emerging field and (2) the changing temporal context by project cycle, longitudinal or intergenerational models. We find that the manifest benefits and critical needs for recycling energy landscapes are edging out the past practice of site abandonment. The enhanced recycling potential of renewable energy landscapes will add to the value we reap as we transition away from conventional energy resources.

引用次数: 0

Embracing sufficiency to accelerate the energy transition

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103907

Fabian Dablander , Colin Hickey , Maria Sandberg , Carina Zell-Ziegler , John Grin

In a rapidly warming world, the transition to renewable energy faces challenges on many fronts. Sufficiency measures, which focus on reducing overall energy demand, hold great potential to accelerate the energy transition and create truly sustainable societies, yet remain underexplored in policy circles. In our perspective, we emphasize sufficiency as a cornerstone for a successful energy transition and broader societal sustainability. We identify key barriers to sufficiency and sketch how policymakers, businesses, researchers, the media and arts, and civil society can help to overcome them. We note that a full transition to sufficiency, beyond individual interventions or novel practices, requires systemic changes that address underlying structural barriers, and distil four broad lessons from the field of transition studies that can help achieve these systemic changes. We call on relevant stakeholders to embrace sufficiency in order to accelerate the energy transition.

引用次数: 0

The retrofit puzzle: Connecting practices, retrofit measures, and performance outcomes through socio-technical evaluations

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103924

Luis Eduardo Medrano-Gómez, Paola Boarin, Alessandro Premier

Post-Occupancy Evaluations (POEs) have historically adopted a technocentric approach often lacking theoretical frameworks to support deeper analyses. Socio-technical POEs involve theories and methods that support the understanding of both technical and social aspects of building performance and the interaction between occupants and buildings. Researchers have recognised residential building retrofitting as a complex socio-technical issue that requires consideration of how physical arrangements support sustainable practices, rather than a technical issue that is easily addressed by installing technology and relying on rational choices. However, no review studies have explicitly investigated socio-technical POEs in retrofitted residential buildings. This study addressed the gap in current research by conducting a systematic review to identify investigative aspects such as suitable methodological and theoretical frameworks, social and technical parameters, benefits, barriers, gaps in knowledge, and future research that can guide researchers in conducting socio-technical POEs. The results showed that although the field of socio-technical POE of retrofitted dwellings is under-researched, it has allowed to identify issues during the retrofit process while uncovering occupant practices, needs, and preferences that impact the performance of buildings. The challenges and limitations of this approach are concerned with access to data, reliability and accuracy of self-reported data, and transferability of findings. The barriers preventing the adoption of this approach are related to the complexity of the evaluation, resources, interdisciplinarity, and regulatory issues. A gap persists on the impact of practices and behaviours on the performance of retrofitted homes, and more research is needed to grow the body of evidence of socio-technical POE.

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引用次数: 0

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