Innovative but unjust? Analysing the opportunities and justice issues within positive energy districts in Europe

The current energy transition focuses on decarbonisation through the use of renewable energy sources, coupled with improvements in efficiency by means of technological innovations. However, there is also a clear call for realizing a just transition. The implementation of smart technology-led transitions and low-carbon energy system innovations is increasingly urged to become more people-centred by taking energy poverty and other justice related issues into account. Energy justice and energy poverty debates already transcend narrow foci on income and energy expenditure ratios and have moved towards multidimensional approaches (Bouzarovski and Petrova, 2015) [1]. In addition, the capability approach (CA) has been used to understand energy deprivation (Day et al., 2016) [2]. We further develop these approaches to better understand justice relevant issues within Positive Energy Districts, especially by looking at how opportunity spaces for realizing wellbeing are created. The primary goal is to establish a CA-informed framework for analysing justice-relevant issues within the development of Positive Energy Districts, based on a systematic literature search. Hereby we contribute to the discussion on usage of the CA within the field of energy and to the debate on how to frame technological innovations, such that they can contribute to a just transition

Redefining energy vulnerability, considering the future

Within the EU, energy poverty is believed to affect at least 9.8% of households. Energy poverty can be broadly defined as a households' inability to meet its energy needs. This is a problem that affects all European countries, but narrow interpretations of data based on notions of material deprivation may lead to energy poverty being overlooked or not considered an issue by policymakers. The EU Energy Poverty Advisory Hub makes a number of essential points when it comes to the measurement, definition, and potential policies and measures to deal with energy poverty. We build on this, using the term energy vulnerability in order to encompass the segment of population identified as living in energy poverty as well as those at risk of becoming energy poor in the future. We use a capabilities approach with a doughnut economics framework to expand on the concept of energy vulnerability as a form of capabilities deprivation, allowing for greater recognition of those that are affected in the present and intergenerationally. This framework is applied using mixed methods consisting of both a Swiss-wide survey of 1,486 people and 8 semi-structured interviews with energy stakeholders to investigate the knowledge gap on energy vulnerability in Switzerland. The framework may be applied and have wider repercussions for other parts of the world where energy poverty is not directly addressed, and where using the term of energy vulnerability may help direct policies in a more dynamic and responsive manner. Furthermore, this article identifies some limitations of basing energy vulnerability definitions on data which focuses on material deprivations as this may risk overlooking those that are vulnerable due to other reasons such as building energy efficiency. We find that levels of energy poverty/vulnerability are higher than estimated in official statistics, highlighting the need for tailored policies both in Switzerland and elsewhere. Levels of energy vulnerability in Switzerland may not be reflected elsewhere, but certainly draw attention to the potential misrecognition of energy vulnerability which may be more widespread than previously believed. We examine existing policies that may help to reduce energy vulnerability, as well as suggest other potential mitigation methods

Toward a reduction of car-based leisure travel : an analysis of determinants and potential measures

Leisure travel is often highly car-based. In Switzerland, the research area of our study, more than 60% of all kilometers traveled for leisure purposes are traveled by car, and an increase is predicted. As traveling by car comes with many negative side-effects, a more sustainable transportation system calls for a shift to less car-based forms of (leisure) travel. This paper reports an online choice experiment, testing the effectiveness of two financial and three non-financial treatments to reduce car-based leisure travel, all which are currently being discussed in the research and political domains in Switzerland. Additionally, we control for a wide range of determinants proven to be relevant for mode choice. We asked 737 participants to imagine they are visiting family or friends living a short distance (5 km) and longer-distance (100 km) away and to report their mode choice for such trips. Findings show the tested treatments will likely have a limited effect on reducing car-based leisure travel. Results also show that car use is motivated by different reasons than public transport or bike usage. Car users mainly want to travel fast and see car travel as the only viable option. Public transport and bike users, however, attach more importance to enjoyment. Specifically, the availability of a car, bike or public transport card is significant for the mode choice and habitual use. To unfreeze existing lock-ins, we conclude that research needs to look at reasons for why drivers believe there is no alternative

Future governance of individual energy consumption behavior change—A framework for reflexive designs

With this paper, we set out to advance the understanding of governance that addresses the challenge of changing individual energy-related consumption behavior. We do so by disentangling the complexity of this challenge and paving the way to systematically approach it in terms of a governance design framework. The framework contains basic categories and reflections that, from a governance design perspective, are crucial for refining, shaping and creating governance arrangements, which aim at changing individual energy behavior. The framework not only serves analytical purposes but can also inform practitioners in designing real-world governance arrangements. Given the involved complexities, it points to the need to consider governance design as a reflexive undertaking

Governance for Sufficiency: A new approach to a contested field

There is broad agreement that reducing household energy consumption in industrialized countries is a major task to reach energy transition and climate change mitigation goals. There is also agreement that efficiency measures alone won’t be sufficient to reach the reduction targets. There is, however, much less agreement on what should complement efficiency and on how the change of energy consumption can be accomplished. Out of the three similar and often used interchangeably concepts discussed in the literature – behaviour change, curtailment and sufficiency – the authors argue for the latter. They develop an understanding of sufficiency along the core idea of changes in individual preferences for quality of life. Against the backdrop of such an understanding, they elaborate on different tasks for governance for sufficiency and illustrate this along a specific example. As a result, this conceptual chapter provides a diversified, multi-levelled picture for the analysis as well as for the design of governance for sufficiency