Is conceptual vagueness an asset? Resilience research from the perspective of philosophy of science

I analyze the research on social-ecological resilience from the perspective of philosophy of science in three steps. First, I explore to what degree resilience research exhibits conceptual vagueness. I find a wide spectrum of research, ranging from approaches relying on a concise conceptual framework to the perspective of “resilience thinking”, which builds on a cluster of vague concepts. Second, I set out the methodological arguments in favor and against conceptual vagueness. Merging both strands of reasoning in the third step, I conclude that a trade-off between vagueness and precision exists, which is to be solved differently depending on the context of resilience research. In some contexts, resilience research benefits from conceptual vagueness while in others it depends on precision. Specifically, I argue that in “resilience thinking” the trade-off might be enhanced by a coherent restructuring of the conceptual framework.vagueness, philosophy of science, precision, resilience thinking, socialecological systems

The economic insurance value of ecosystem resilience

Ecosystem resilience, i.e. an ecosystem’s ability to maintain its basic functions and controls under disturbances, is often interpreted as insurance: by decreasing the probability of future drops in the provision of ecosystem services, resilience insures risk-averse ecosystem users against potential welfare losses. Using a general and stringent definition of “insurance” and a simple ecological-economic model, we derive the economic insurance value of ecosystem resilience and study how it depends on ecosystem properties, economic context, and the ecosystem user’s risk preferences. We show that (i) the insurance value of resilience is negative (positive) for low (high) levels of resilience, (ii) it increases with the level of resilience, and (iii) it is one additive component of the total economic value of resilience.ecosystem, economic value, insurance, resilience, risk, risk preferences

The German energy transition as a regime shift

In this paper, I use the resilience framework to interpret the project of transforming the German energy system into a renewable energy sources (RES)-based system, the so-called Energiewende, as a regime shift. This regime shift comprises several transformations, which are currently altering the technological, political and economic system structure. To build my argument, I first sketch how technological, political and economic developments reduced the resilience of the conventional fossil-nuclear energy regime and created a new RES-regime. Second, I depict recent changes in German public discourse and energy policy as the shift to the RES-regime. Third, I highlight challenges involved with increasing the resilience of the RES-regime. In particular, sufficient resilience of the electricity transmission grid appears to be crucial for facilitating the transformation of the whole energy system

Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power is fundamentally sensible from an economic perspective

Germany has made a formal commitment to phase out the use of nuclear power by 2022. Erik Gawel and Sebastian Strunz write on the implications of the strategy for Germany’s future energy mix and whether the approach adopted in the country could function as a model for other European states. They argue that while the target is undeniably challenging, long-term it is economically sensible and feasible to phase out both fossil fuels and nuclear energy in favour of renewables

Degrowth, modernity, and the open society

Critiques of modernity often align with critiques of the existing institutions of liberal democracy. We argue that the degrowth movement can learn from the experience of past critiques of modernity by avoiding their major mistake - that is, (inadvertently) conflating a critique of modernity with a rejection of liberal democratic institutions. Hence, we suggest to frame degrowth as the promotion of new vocabularies within a deliberative account of democracy. Specifically, we proceed in three steps: first, we briefly review some essential critiques of modernity and their stance towards liberal democracy. Second, we illustrate how some of the argumentative patterns within the degrowth literature may inadvertently endanger core values of the open society. Third, we introduce our perspective on a liberal degrowth that aims to fulfil the "unfinished project of modernity"

Identifying barriers towards a post-growth economy - a political economy view

In this paper, we take a political economy perspective on barriers that inhibit a transition beyond the growth-paradigm - that is, we frame transition barriers as looming distributional conflicts. Within the current paradigm, distributional conflicts are mitigated via economic growth. Hence, the solution of these distributional conflicts is a prerequisite for a successful transition. Specifically, we analyze three examples of transition barriers. First, unemployment represents the most commonly cited reason why economic growth is considered indispensable. Second, pension schemes rely on economic growth to offset demographic change. Third, alternative indicators to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have not succeeded in replacing GDP as a standard metric of economic welfare. In each of these three examples, we identify actor-interest constellations that foster the status quo. We conclude that compensating those actors who would presumably be worse off due to a transition beyond the growth paradigm may be inevitable to mitigate and overcome the distributional effects to be triggered by the transition

Institutions and preferences determine resilience of ecological-economic systems

We perform a model analysis to study the origins of limited resilience in ecological-economic systems. We demonstrate that the resilience properties of the ecosystem are essentially determined by the management institutions and consumers’ preferences for ecosystem services. In particular, we show that complementarity of ecosystem services in human well-being and open access of the ecosystem to profit-maximizing harvesting firms may lead to limited resilience of the ecosystem. We conclude that the role of human preferences and management institutions is not just to facilitate adaptation to, or transformation of, some natural dynamics of ecosystems. Rather, human preferences and management institutions are themselves important determinants of the fundamental dynamic characteristics of the ecological-economic system, such as limited resilience.ecological-economic systems, ecosystem services, institutions, natural resource management, preferences, resilience

Non-Markovian Quantum State Diffusion for Temperature-Dependent Linear Spectra of Light Harvesting Aggregates

Non-Markovian Quantum State Diffusion (NMQSD) has turned out to be an efficient method to calculate excitonic properties of aggregates composed of organic chromophores, taking into account the coupling of electronic transitions to vibrational modes of the chromophores. NMQSD is an open quantum system approach that incorporates environmental degrees of freedom (the vibrations in our case) in a stochastic way. We show in this paper that for linear optical spectra (absorption, circular dichroism) no stochastics is needed, even for finite temperatures. Thus, the spectra can be obtained by propagating a single trajectory. To this end we map a finite temperature environment to the zero temperature case using the so-called thermofield method. The resulting equations can then be solved efficiently by standard integrators.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Smart Grid: The Central Nervous System for Power Supply : New Paradigms, New Challenges, New Services

Im Energiesystem der Zukunft wird ein intelligentes Netz (Smart Grid) Angebot und Nachfrage effizient steuern. Dieser Artikel beschreibt (1) die Trends und Herausforderungen heutiger Ener-giesysteme, die die Entwicklung eines Smart Grid auslösen, identifiziert (2) Elemente eines Smart Grid und stellt (3) die mögliche Rolle eines Telekommunkationsunternehmes im entste-henden Smart Grid Markt dar. Der Trend zu einem steigenden Anteil erneuerbarer und dezentraler Energieerzeugungsanlagen bringt zwei große Herausforderungen mit sich: Eine mangelnde Vorhersagbarkeit und eine man-gelnde Regelbarkeit der Erzeugungsleistung. In diesem Artikel werden vier Elemente eines Smart Grid vorgestellt, die diese Herausforderungen adressieren: Virtuelle Kraftwerke, Demand Side Management, Lastflussregelung und Energiespeicherung. Abschließend wird herausgestellt, dass die Elemente systemisch integiert werden müssen um den eigentlichen Wert des Smart Grid zu heben. Es wird erörtert, dass sich Telekommunkiationsan-bieter in einer guten Ausgangsposition befinden um die Herausforderungen dieser Integration zu adressieren, da sie über wesentliche Erfahrungen und Fähigkeiten verfügen: Umfassendes Ver-ständnis großer IP-Netzwerke, Erfahrungen mit Cloud Computing, umfangreiches Wissen zu Service-Plattformen und Kooperationserfahrung. Online-Version im Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin (www.univerlag.tu-berlin.de) erschienen.In future power systems, a smart grid is expected to manage supply and demand of electricity efficiently. This article explores (1) the trends and challenges of today’s power system that trig-ger the development of smart grids, (2) the elements that may eventually constitute the smart grid and (3) the role a telcommunication provider may adopt in the emerging smart grid market. The trend towards an increasing share of renewable and distributed energy sources bears two major challenges: A lack of predictability and a lack of controllability of power generation. This article introduces four elements of a smart grid which address these challenges: virtual power plants, demand side management, control of power flow and storage and buffering. Finally, it is pointed out that in order to enhance the smart grid’s actual value, the elements have to be systemically integrated. It is argued that telecommunication providers are well positioned to adress the integration challenges as they have crucial experiences and capabilities: profound understanding of large IP networks, experiences in cloud computing, extensive service platform know-how and cooperation experience. Online-Version published by Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin (www.univerlag.tu-berlin.de

A public choice view on the climate and energy policy mix in the EU: how do the emissions trading scheme and support for renewable energies interact?

In this paper, we analyze the rationale for an energy policy mix when the European Emissions Trading scheme (ETS) is considered from a public choice perspective. That is, we argue that the economic textbook model of the ETS implausibly assumes 1) efficient policy design and 2) climate protection as the single objective of policy intervention. Contrary to these assumptions, we propose that the ETS originates from a political bargaining game within a context of multiple policy objectives. In particular, the emissions cap is negotiated between regulators and emitters with the emitters’ abatement costs as crucial bargaining variable. This public choice view yields striking implications for an optimal policy mix comprising RES supporting policies. Whereas the textbook model implies that the ETS alone provides sufficient climate protection, our analysis suggests that support for renewable energies 1) contributes to a more effective ETS‐design and 2) may even increase the overall efficiency of climate and energy policy if other externalities and policy objectives besides climate protection are considered. Thus, our analysis also shows that a public choice view not necessarily entails negative evaluations concerning efficiency and effectiveness of a policy mix