Pilot Society and the Energy Transition

This open access book examines the role of pilot and demonstration projects as crucial devices for conducting innovation in the context of the energy transition. Bridging literature from sustainability transitions and Science and Technology Studies (STS), it argues that such projects play a crucial role, not only in shaping future energy and mobility systems, but in transforming societies more broadly. Pilot projects constitute socio-technical configurations where imagined future realities are materialized. With this as a backdrop, the book explores pilot projects as political entities, focusing on questions of how they gain their legitimacy, which resources are mobilized in their production, and how they can serve as sites of public participation and the production of energy citizenship. The book argues that such projects too often have a narrow technology focus, and that this is a missed opportunity. The book concludes by critically discussing the potential roles of research and innovation policy in transforming how such projects are configured and conducted

Pilot Society and the Energy Transition

This open access book examines the role of pilot and demonstration projects as crucial devices for conducting innovation in the context of the energy transition. Bridging literature from sustainability transitions and Science and Technology Studies (STS), it argues that such projects play a crucial role, not only in shaping future energy and mobility systems, but in transforming societies more broadly. Pilot projects constitute socio-technical configurations where imagined future realities are materialized. With this as a backdrop, the book explores pilot projects as political entities, focusing on questions of how they gain their legitimacy, which resources are mobilized in their production, and how they can serve as sites of public participation and the production of energy citizenship. The book argues that such projects too often have a narrow technology focus, and that this is a missed opportunity. The book concludes by critically discussing the potential roles of research and innovation policy in transforming how such projects are configured and conducted

Is local always best? Social acceptance of small hydropower projects in Norway.

Small-scale development of renewable energy has been identified as one possible solution to meet future energy needs and is well aligned with the general European trend towards further development of community energy projects. Increased local energy production will move energy plants closer to habitation, placing aspects related to social acceptance at the center stage [1, 2]. Until recently, small hydro power [3] projects in Norway have been owned by local farmers and others with property rights to rivers. As the profitability of these projects has decreased, international investors have taken interest in SHP projects as part of their long-term investment strategy. In this paper, we study what influences social acceptance of SHP projects in Norway based on interviews and qualitative data from different SHP projects in Norway. We find that community energy projects often are attributed positive qualities when ownership is local. Thus, we argue that there is a need to consider more thoroughly how to organize ownership of small-scale renewables in the future, if it is to uphold its position as a popular and viable solution to meet future energy needs [3]

Assembling climate knowledge. The role of local expertise

The difference between indigenous knowledge and western science continues to be a central theme in the social studies of science. This paper investigates the use of climate knowledge in climate adaptation activities. The analysis is based on a case study of indigenous experts involved in practical operations dealing with risk of avalanches in an area particularly vulnerable to avalanches in northern Norway. We find that indigenous knowledge held by local area experts and western science overlap. From this we develop two lines of argument. Firstly that assemblages of climate adaptation is produced as collaborative guesswork related to coupling and negotiation of different types of knowledge in a decision context. Secondly, we discuss what such a practice means for the understanding of the relationship between climate knowledge and climate policy. By following different assemblages of climate knowledge we point to an alternative way of understanding a process of policy shaping in relation to climate adaptation: a sideways policy shaping process where what gets included or excluded and what is considered internal or external to a decision making context becomes evident.

Assembling climate knowledge. The role of local expertise

The difference between indigenous knowledge and western science continues to be a central theme in the social studies of science. This paper investigates the use of climate knowledge in climate adaptation activities. The analysis is based on a case study of indigenous experts involved in practical operations dealing with risk of avalanches in an area particularly vulnerable to avalanches in northern Norway. We find that indigenous knowledge held by local area experts and western science overlap. From this we develop two lines of argument. Firstly that assemblages of climate adaptation is produced as collaborative guesswork related to coupling and negotiation of different types of knowledge in a decision context. Secondly, we discuss what such a practice means for the understanding of the relationship between climate knowledge and climate policy. By following different assemblages of climate knowledge we point to an alternative way of understanding a process of policy shaping in relation to climate adaptation: a sideways policy shaping process where what gets included or excluded and what is considered internal or external to a decision making context becomes evident.

Orchestrating households as collectives of participation in the distributed energy transition: new empirical and conceptual insights

Building on recent dialogue between sustainability transition theories and Science and Technology Studies (STS), this article conceptually and empirically studies and analyses the orchestration of households as collectives of participation in the process of distributed energy transition. Synthesising across past studies, we explore three types of what we call ‘collectives of orchestration’, relatively durable collectives that work to orchestrate participation at a distance in space and time. These are: a) collectives of policy production and regulation, b) collectives of research, development and innovation, and c) collectives of technology design. We explore how these collectives enroll households, and the ways in which they mediate participation through different strategies and techniques, producing conditions for various modes of participation. We proceed to discuss the co-production of participation in and by households, including ways in which households can re-configure issues around which research and demonstration projects are set up. Through this exercise, we identify four distinct processes through which orchestration is enacted: 1) the production of visions, expectations and imaginations, 2) network construction and re-configuration, 3) scripting and 4) domestication

Expanding the scope and implications of energy research: A guide to key themes and concepts from the Social Sciences and Humanities

This paper provides an overview of key themes and concepts within energy-related Social Sciences and Humanities (energy-SSH) research in Europe. It aims to use this overview as an introduction for those producing strategies and interventions to advance energy and sustainability transitions in practice as well as for newcomers to the field of energy-SSH research, such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) researchers. This paper builds on four extensive literature reviews from the EU Horizon 2020 SHAPE ENERGY project on four energy topics derived from the EU's Strategic Energy Technology Plan (EU SET-Plan) priorities: energy efficiency, low-carbon energy supply, energy system optimisation and transport decarbonisation. Based on a cross-cutting analysis of these four literature reviews, this paper discusses the evolution of and recent developments across energy-SSH research. It highlights two interrelated stories of scholarly expansion concerning the role of people in low-carbon energy transitions, illustrated with an example on demand-side management, and points towards future energy-SSH research and policy priorities