Everyday experimentation in energy transition:A practice-theoretical view

Research on sustainable practices has attracted increasing interest as a way to understand energy demand and transitions towards sustainability. In this paper we elaborate on how practice theories can inform the discussion of experimentation. Practice theory suggests that the everyday life of people appears recalcitrant. Practices are robust, resilient and have multiple, historically formed constituents and are thereby difficult to destabilize and change quickly. The making and breaking of links inside and between practices is highlighted, as is the need for enduring, multi-sited change efforts. Practice theory further helps us to better understand the constitution of new, levelled forms of expertise, the distributed nature of experimentation and the enrolment of citizens as active participants in sustainability transitions. We have operationalized and examined these suggestions in a Finnish research project related to climate change mitigation and energy use in detached houses. We report specific modes of experimentation and innovation, including user innovations, and the shared resources of situated expertise, the collective and shared processes of empowerment and the ways in which normality is challenged by ruptures in everyday life. Based on the results, we derive suggestions for effective policy interventions. We also bring forward a set of generic suggestions for more sensitive, appreciative and effective public policies on sustainability transitions and cast experimentation in a particular and partial role in such policies

Pursuing legitimacy for solar energy: essays on temporality and collective spaces in nascent fields

Due to coronavirus pandemic this defence was postponed to be held on 2nd April 2020 at 13:00.Solar technology has emerged as a significant option in energy provision in a rather short time globally. It is also often considered a spreadhead technology in the transition of the energy domain towards an increased use of new renewable energy sources and one key solution in tackling grand challenges like climate change and resource depletion. In Finland there have been several waves of local initiatives aimed at legitimating the technology and mobilizing actors behind shared courses of action. However, legitimation has stalled time and again, with persistent difficulty in forming a 'coalition of believers' for the new technology. Solar energy has also remained strikingly illegitimate in political terms, also compared to other northern contexts with similar conditions. In this research I explore, how legitimation has unfolded between different communities in the field. The research is a longitudinal and in part real-time study that covers four decades of initiatives in 1973-2015, based on a comprehensive qualitative dataset of 51 interviews, 200 hours of observations at industry events and other collaborative settings, 3400 news stories and 3000 pages of archival material. I focus on two distinct topics. First, I study the role of temporality in legitimation processes, pointing to "time" as a socially constructed, negotiated and changing construct. Second, I explore how engaged actors have capitalized on collective spaces in the nascent field to attach the new innovation to changing policy concerns. The term collective space refers to transitory settings that forge uncommon interactions between disparate actors, such as field-configuring events and technology experiments. The findings of this study point to legitimation as a continuous negotiation of temporal experience among key communities. The research shows how shared time constructs have brought disparate actors together and created momentum in the face of scattered perceptions and interests. Yet overall such constructs have been fragile and lost their significance – due to challenges in managing temporal complexity in the nascent field. In particular, asynchronicity between the engaged communities and asynchronicity between the rhythm of innovation development when compared to the rhythm of acute and changing policy concerns have hampered legitimation. Further on, the research illuminates the role of collective spaces as sites of political entrainment, i.e. settings where initial actors urge timings and rhythms of developing the new innovation that would relate meaningfully to changing policy concerns. The study shows how spaces have contributed to recurring hype and disappointment in the field, related to their appearance as fleeting and sporadic windows of opportunity for issue construction. The research contributes to scholarly understanding on temporality in organizations and management by a focus on a complex multi-actor setting and generates dialogue between different literature streams that study spaces in fields

Promoting residential renewable energy via peer-to-peer learning

Peer-to-peer learning is gaining increasing attention in nonformal community-based environmental education. This article evaluates a novel modification of a concept for peer-to-peer learning about residential energy solutions (Open Homes). We organized collective “Energy Walks” visiting several homes with novel energy solutions and engaging people beyond those with a serious renovation project. We evaluated the intervention in terms of individual, network-centric, and institutional learning outcomes. Learning outcomes were observed on all these levels. We argue that this form of peer-to-peer learning builds capacity for sustainable action in the community by supporting discussion and reflection, rather than merely social learning as modeling.Peer-to-peer learning is gaining increasing attention in nonformal community-based environmental education. This article evaluates a novel modification of a concept for peer-to-peer learning about residential energy solutions (Open Homes). We organized collective “Energy Walks” visiting several homes with novel energy solutions and engaging people beyond those with a serious renovation project. We evaluated the intervention in terms of individual, network-centric, and institutional learning outcomes. Learning outcomes were observed on all these levels. We argue that this form of peer-to-peer learning builds capacity for sustainable action in the community by supporting discussion and reflection, rather than merely social learning as modeling.Peer reviewe

Constructing Expectations for Solar Technology over Multiple Field-Configuring Events: A Narrative Perspective

The existence of positive expectations is of particular importance for emerging clean energy technologies that are not yet competitive on the market in terms of cost or performance. The sociology of expectations literature studies how expectations can further technological fields. We contribute to this literature by studying expectations work through multiple “field-configuring events” in an effort to map out field development over time. Our analysis demonstrates six narrative themes and the evolvement of expectations work to further solar technology. We suggest that event-based expectations work is fruitful for exploring complementary visions and expectations for a new technology. Rather than explicitly aligning expectations, events can lead to an initially narrow storyline gradually spreading into multiple narratives upon which to build a field’s future and, thereby, guide and strengthen the advocacy. This form of guidance is especially important in early phases of field formation

Vaikuttava elintapaohjaus auttaa nuorta motivoitumaan

Suomessa lasten ja nuorten terveydentila on keskimääräisesti hyvä. Kuitenkin vuosikymmenten ajan lasten ja nuorten fyysinen aktiivisuus on vähentynyt ja fyysinen passiivisuus lisääntynyt, mikä on johtanut lasten ja nuorten ylipainon lisääntymiseen. Nykyaikana digilaitteet kuuluvat suurimman osan nuorten ja lasten elämään. Vaikka digilaiteet voidaan nähdä hyödyllisenä harrastuksena tai sosiaalisen suhteiden ylläpitäjänä, on niiden varjopuolena ongelmaksi kasvaneen käytön tuomat haitat. Kouluterveydenhoitajilla on keskeinen rooli lasten ja nuorten terveydenedistämisessä. Heillä tulisikin olla käytössä vaikuttavia ohjausmenetelmiä, joilla puuttua aktiivisuuden lisäämiseen, pelaamisen hillitsemiseen ja tukemaan terveyttä edistäviin valintoihin. Lasten ja nuorten ohjaamisessa on tärkeää, että he kokevat tulleensa nähdyiksi, kuulluiksi ja ymmärretyiksi. Interventioissa onkin hyvä hyödyntää avointen kysymysten käyttöä, puheen reflektointia ja muutosvaihemallin vahvistamista tai sen tukemista. Prosessinomainen interventio on tehokkain tapa auttaa muutoksen tekijää. Tuen saanti, kannustaminen oman käyttäytymisen seurataan, tavoitteiden asettaminen sekä palautteen saanti auttavat lasta ja nuorta motivoitumaan muutokseen. Koska digimaailma on läsnä myös tulevaisuudessa, voitaisiin sitä hyödyntää enemmän lasten ja nuorten elintapaohjauksessa