Energy security and human security in a Dutch gasquake context:A case of localized performative politics

From the late 1980s, the natural gas extraction in the Netherlands has experienced an increasing number of ever stronger gasquakes (induced earthquakes due to gas extraction). This paper offers a security analysis of the accompanying debate on the material consequences and organization of the gas extraction between the threatened local population, the knowledge institutes analyzing the gasquakes, and the government and extraction industry. This paper studies how these parties make sense of the gasquakes through a combination of securitization theory and the flat relationality offered by new materialism, which forces the two conflicting securitization claims to be analyzed in their local sociotechnical and material context. The resulting analysis shows how the gas debate is structured by a shared security of supply understanding. An understanding which for a long time has been questioned by the local population on its safety and cost implications. However, it took 25 years until their claims were accepted and the security of supply understanding shifted to a focus on minimal extraction volumes. An acceptance that can only be explained through a self-reinforcing combination of security claims, actual material events, increasing measurements (following security calls), shifting value judgements and increasing audience acceptance (creating additional speech actors). (C) 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd

Securing abundance:The politics of energy security

Energy Security is a concept that is known in the literature for its ‘slippery’ nature and subsequent wide range of definitions. Instead of another attempt at grasping the essence of this concept, Securing Abundance reformulates the problem and moves away from a definitional problem to a theoretical reflection and problematization of its current use. It offers a performative understanding of energy security that builds on a deeper understanding of some of the implicit underlying social processes behind energy security. After a short historical analysis of the proliferation of energy security, including a short comparison with a similar proliferation in food security and a reflection on the ways scholars try to make sense of energy security, Securing Abundance unpacks four social practices that drive energy security. These include the logics of security, a critical reflection on the notion of scarcity, an analysis of the relation between the materiality of socio-technical systems and the knowledge people have over such systems, and the (power) politics that combine all these practices. Each of these is unpacked, not to offer the approach to analyze energy security, but to show how energy security works, how it comes to be, what its effects are and what role current ways of thinking about energy security play within these processes. Two illustrations, one on the Dutch natural gas debate and another on the transition to a smarter electricity grid, highlight the use and some of the insights that can be gained from such a performative approach to energy security

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

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

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

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

Reviewing Nordic transport challenges and climate policy priorities: expert perceptions of decarbonisation in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden

The five Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have aggressive climate and energy policies in place and are largely on track in their decarbonisation of electricity, heat, and buildings. Transportation and mobility, however, remains a pressing challenge. This study asks: what are the greatest national and regional transport challenges facing Nordic countries? To provide an answer, the authors conducted 227 semi-structured interviews with participants from 201 institutions across seventeen cities within the Nordic region. Those interviewed represent a diverse array of stakeholders involved with transport technology, policy and practice. Although respondents identified 44 distinct transport challenges, the fossil fuel intensity of transport was by far the most frequently mentioned by than two-fifths (42%) of the expert sample. Five other challenges were also mentioned the most frequently by respondents: long travel distances (17%), the state of public transport infrastructure (16%), congestion (15%), population density (10%), and electrification of transport (10%). Interestingly, items such as costs and affordability, energy or transport efficiency, consumer knowledge and awareness, and automobile accidents were mentioned by only 3% (or less). The article concludes by what this heterogeneity and prioritization of challenges means for future Nordic research and policy

Expert perceptions of low-carbon transitions: investigating the challenges of electricity decarbonisation in the Nordic region

The five Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have perhaps the most aggressive and progressive climate, energy, and electricity policies in the world. This study asks: what are the greatest challenges to achieving the region’s low-carbon goals in the domain of electricity? To provide an answer, the authors conducted 227 semi-structured interviews with 257 participants from 201 institutions across seventeen cities within the Nordic region. Those interviewed represent a diverse array of stakeholders involved with electricity technology, policy and practice. Although respondents identified 40 distinct electricity challenges, the integration of renewables was by far the most frequently mentioned (14.5%) of the expert sample. Five other challenges were also mentioned the most frequently by respondents: electrification of transport and other sectors (10.6%), managing intermittency (8.8%), carbon intensity (8.4%), supporting local grids (8.4%), and adequate capacity (8.4%). Interestingly, items such as energy efficiency, consumer awareness, industry, energy security, and public opposition were mentioned by only 1.8% (or less). The article concludes by what this heterogeneity and prioritization of challenges means for future Nordic research and policy

Promoting Vehicle to Grid (V2G) in the Nordic region: expert advice on policy mechanisms for accelerated diffusion

Vehicle to Grid (V2G) holds the promise of cheap, flexible, and fast-responding storage through the use of electric vehicle batteries. Unfortunately, infrastructure, battery degradation and consumer awareness are only some of the challenges to a faster development of this technology. This paper offers a qualitative comparative analysis that draws on a subsample of 227 semi-structured interviews on electric vehicles with both transportation and electricity experts from 201 institutions and 17 cities within the Nordic region to discuss the reasoning and arguments behind V2G incentives and policy mechanisms. A frequency analysis of the most coded V2G responses favoured an update of the electricity market regulation – in particular in relation to electricity taxation and aggregator markets – and support for pilot projects. However, the analysis overall implies that V2G, in contrast to EVs, is a technology for the market and by the market. One that will develop on its own over time. More in-depth, our analysis shows the debates around V2G and how its perspective differs per country, pending available frequency capacity and flexible production (hydro power). The paper calls for a further development of flexible electricity markets, support for pilot projects, and attention to information and planning

Conspicuous diffusion: theorizing how status drives innovation in electric mobility

This paper explores how conceptions of luxury and status affect the manner in which a relatively novel technology—an electric vehicle— diffuses across societies. To do so, it combines Veblen’s notion of conspicuous consumption and Roger’s diffusion of innovation by proposing a new theoretical variation, which we term “conspicuous diffusion.” The paper sketches natural connections between the two theories, namely how conspicuous consumption relates to technological and societal development, and how diffusion of innovation is intrinsically connected to status. In combining these approaches, we hypothesize that the success of an innovation is guided by its adherence to the canons of conspicuousness and conspicuous value, which it loses as the innovation diffuses across the population. To illustrate the explanatory power of conspicuous diffusion, we examine the status of electric vehicles in the Nordic region, based on original data from multiple methods, including expert interviews and focus groups. We find that conspicuous diffusion can explain previous failures and current successes of electric vehicle diffusion patterns. The paper concludes with recommendations for policymakers, industry, and academia