Comparing innovation systems for solar photovoltaics in the United Kingdom and in China

Innovation in renewable energy sources (RES), such as solar photovoltaics (PV), can play an important part in CO2 reductions for climate change mitigation, as well as contributing to economic development. With a production capacity growing by more than 70% per year over the last 7 years, China is rapidly emerging as an important player in the global PV market, with significant levels of exports to Western European countries. The country's low labour cost combined with the potentially huge internal market should enable it to contribute to technology learning processes, driving down costs and increasing market diffusion. By comparison, though the UK aims to show global leadership in climate change policy, e.g. by setting a legally binding target to reduce CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050, it has been slow in developing either production capacity or markets for PV technology. By adopting a national innovation systems framework of analysis, the paper identifies the different technological and institutional actors and relations of the innovation systems for PV in the UK and in China, and assesses the extent to which these are likely to encourage or constrain the technological development and the market diffusion of this technology in the two countries. This novel effort to compare and contrast the innovation systems in the two countries combines information collected in both the UK and China and interviews with a sample of key actors in the PV sector. The comparison of the two countries’ innovation systems both unveils striking differences from which valuable policy lessons can be derived for the management of innovation in the energy sector and helps understanding of how such innovation could contribute to economic development

Sleepwalking into lock-in? Avoiding wrongs to future people in the governance of solar radiation management research

This paper argues for two ways in which we can avoid the reckless endangerment of future people in the governance of solar radiation management (SRM) research, which could happen through lock-in to SRM deployment from research. SRM research is at an early stage, one at which the mechanisms of lock-in could start to operate. However, lock-in fit to endanger future people could be slowed or stopped through targeted governance. This paper argues that governance of SRM research that does not include provisions to detect, slow, or stop lock-in fails the test of an intergenerationally adequate precautionary principle, and that research governed without these provisions cannot itself be justified as a precaution against the impacts of climate change

Discrete models for quantum gravity in three dimensions

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:D064072 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

UK natural gas system integration in the making, 1960-2010: Complexity, transitional uncertainties and uncertain transitions

The article focuses on the development of the natural gas system in the UK from its establishment to the present day, as an analogue for the challenges of integrating large, infrastructural technical systems for a sustainability transition. It is inscribed within the multilevel perspective approach yet concentrates on 'system integration' as a complex and uncertain socio-technical process. The case study focuses on two interrelated transitions in order to provide a co-evolutionary and comprehensive understanding of the uncertainties in system development and integration faced by the UK natural gas industry. Through thick historical analysis of the gas grid transition we provide insights into the sustainability of similar network technology transitions. At the same time we contribute to complex systems modelling approaches (broadly defined to include quantitative and qualitative modelling) by unravelling the roles and agencies of actors, institutions and technologies in the modelling and making of sustainability transitions. © 2014 Elsevier B.V

UK innovation systems for new and renewable energy technologies: drivers, barriers and systems failures

A better understanding of the systemic processes by which innovation occurs is useful, both conceptually and to inform policymaking in support of innovation in more sustainable technologies. This paper analyses current innovation systems in the UK for a range of new and renewable energy technologies, and generates policy recommendations for improving the effectiveness of these innovation systems. Although incentives are in place in the UK to encourage innovation in these technologies, system failures—or ‘gaps’—are identified in moving technologies along the innovation chain, preventing their successful commercialisation. Sustained investment will be needed for these technologies to achieve their potential. It is argued that a stable and consistent policy framework is required to help create the conditions for this. In particular, such a framework should be aimed at improving risk/reward ratios for demonstration and pre-commercial stage technologies. This would enhance positive expectations, stimulate learning effects leading to cost reductions, and increase the likelihood of successful commercialisation

Four-terminal magnetoresistance of a two-dimensional electron-gas constriction in the ballistic regime

A novel negative magnetoresistance effect is found in four-terminal measurements of the voltage drop across a short constriction of variable width in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas. The effect is interpreted as the suppression by a magnetic field of the geometrical constriction resistance in the ballistic regime. Quantitative agreement with a simple model based on a Landauer-type formula is obtained.