23 research outputs found

    Balancing the energy trilemma through the Energy Justice Metric

    Get PDF
    Energy justice is a fast emerging research and policy tool which captures the injustices across the energy life-cycle, i.e., from ‘cradle-to-grave’. The Energy Justice Metric (EJM) quantifies energy justice through analyzing the energy justice performance of different countries utilising data from international institutions and national governments. This paper identifies why there is a need for a modeling tool such as the EJM which focuses on the full energy life-cycle and also has a distributive (inequality-correcting) oriented approach. The EJM demonstrates how a country can achieve an improved balance between the three competing aims of the energy trilemma, i.e. economics, politics and the environment. A key feature of the EJM is modeling energy justice using a ternary plot where the energy justice performance of a country can be transferred directly onto the energy trilemma. In this paper, five countries are analysed, the US, UK, Germany, Denmark and Ireland. The EJM presents a research and policy decision-making tool that can contribute to the growing literature that tackles the issue of inequality in society, and informs on society’s decision on which energy source would be more just for a society to build.PostprintPeer reviewe

    Navigating expert skepticism and consumer distrust: rethinking the barriers to vehicle-to-grid (V2G) in the Nordic region

    Get PDF
    Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) refers to a technology that could help make the electricity grid more effective, reduce the cost of ownership of electric vehicles (EVs), and help integrate intermittent renewable energy sources. However, despite these advantages, implementation and even knowledge of the technology is not widespread. In order to explore why, we ask the question: what are the barriers that V2G currently faces? To provide an answer, the authors conducted 227 semi-structured interviews with transportation and electricity experts from 201 institutions across seventeen cities within the a market currently experimenting with electric mobility and V2G, the Nordic region. Results show that there is an extensive range of barriers facing V2G, with experts suggesting in total 35 categories of barriers. While the literature espouses substantial benefits of V2G, the experts interviewed generally displayed skepticism of the benefits and necessity of V2G in the Nordics. We categorized the top nine discussed barriers into four clusters. These clusters focused on the experts’ skepticism of the benefits of V2G, consumer acceptance, economic viability, and regulatory structure for V2G participation. We conclude the paper with policy implications and suggestions for future research

    The demographics of decarbonizing transport: the influence of gender, education, occupation, age, and household size on electric mobility preferences in the Nordic region

    Get PDF
    Many researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders have explored and supported efforts to transition towards more sustainable forms of low-carbon mobility. Often, discussion will flow from a narrow view of consumer perceptions surrounding passenger vehicles—presuming that they act in rationalist, instrumental, and predictable patterns. In this paper, we hold that a better understanding of the social and demographic perceptions of electric vehicles (compared to other forms of mobility, including conventional cars) is needed. We provide a comparative and mixed methods assessment of the demographics of electric mobility and stated preferences for electric vehicles, drawing primarily on a survey distributed to more than 5,000 respondents across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. We examine how gender influences preferences; how experience in the form of education and occupation shape preferences; and how aging and household size impact preferences. In doing so we hope to reveal the more complex social dynamics behind how potential adopters consider and calculate various aspects of conventional mobility, electric mobility, and vehicle-to-grid systems. In particular, our results suggest that predominantly men, those with higher levels of education in full time employment, especially with occupations in civil society or academia, and below middle age (30 to 45), are the most likely to buy them. However, our analysis also reveals other market segments where electric vehicles may take root, e.g. among higher income females and retirees/pensioners. Moreover, few respondents were orientated towards V2G, independent of their demographic attributes. Our empirical results can inform ongoing discussions about energy and transport policy, the drivers of environmental change, and deliberations over sustainability transitions

    Rethinking the spatiality of Nordic electric vehicles and their popularity in urban environments: moving beyond the city?

    Get PDF
    With a global transition to electric vehicles (EVs) slowly gaining traction, it is expedient to move the debate to issues connected to geography, space, and place. One of these emerging issues is the uptake of EVs in rural areas. This paper provides a spatial state of affairs in the Nordic region and it explores how EVs are perceived and argued to fit within rural-suburban-urban categories by users and potential adopters. To do so, it draws on a mix of original and secondary data: (1) a randomized survey among 4322 respondents, (2) 227 expert interviews, (3) eight focus groups conducted across Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway, and (4) geographically mapped municipal level vehicle registrations across Norway and Sweden. This data shows that while the uptake primarily takes place in (sub)urban regions, EVs are used in rural environments, partly for self-sufficiency reasons. After acknowledging that individual choices and circumstances dictate final purchase decisions, the paper concludes that planners and researchers should be aware off and, if possible, prevent that a skewed urbanized popularity keeps people elsewhere from looking at EVs as a viable option
    corecore