Spatiotemporal perspectives on urban energy transitions: a comparative study of three cities in China

Abstract This paper develops an integrated framework to study the socio-spatial and temporal dimensions of urban energy transitions to investigate the development and spread of solar energy technologies in urban China. A comparative analysis of three case studies of solar energy transitions in the cities of Foshan (in Guangdong), Rizhao (in Shandong), and Wuxi (in Jiangsu) demonstrates the framework’s applicability. The results map each city’s trajectory towards low carbon energy. Transitions result from dynamic interactions among central and local governments, solar manufacturers, solar installers, and residents. Alongside industrial strategies, locally-specific factors have a determining influence on the eventual outcomes.

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Creating energy citizenship through material participation

Social Studies of Science ◽

10.1177/0306312718770286 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 283-303 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Marianne Ryghaug ◽

Tomas Moe Skjølsvold ◽

Sara Heidenreich

Keyword(s):

Public Support ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Energy Technologies ◽

Electric Car ◽

Energy Transitions ◽

New Energy ◽

New Material ◽

Knowledge Deficits ◽

Low Carbon Energy

Transitions towards low-carbon energy systems will be comprehensive and demanding, requiring substantial public support. One important contribution from STS is to highlight the roles of citizens and public engagement. Until recently, energy users have often been treated as customers and passive market actors, or as recipients of technology at the margins of centralized systems. With respect to the latter role, critical or hesitant public action has been explained in terms of NIMBYism and knowledge deficits. This article focuses on the production of energy citizenship when considering public participation in low-carbon energy transitions. We draw upon the theory of ‘material participation’ to highlight how introducing and using emergent energy technologies may create new energy practices. We analyze an ongoing introduction of new material objects, highlighting the way these technologies can be seen as material interventions co-constructing temporalities of new and sustainable practices. We argue that artefacts such as the electric car, the smart meter and photovoltaic panels may become objects of participation and engagement, and that the introduction of such technologies may foster material participation and energy citizenship. The paper concludes with a discussion about the role of policies for low-carbon energy transitions on the making of energy citizenship, as well as limits of introducing a materially based energy citizenship.

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Understanding Indicator Choice for the Assessment of RD&D Financing of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies

10.1093/oso/9780198802242.003.0010 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Jonas Sonnenschein

Keyword(s):

Nordic Countries ◽

Additional Research ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Research Development ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Energy Technologies ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Standard Set ◽

Low Carbon Energy

Rapid decarbonization requires additional research, development, and demonstration of low-carbon energy technologies. Various financing instruments are in place to support this development. They are frequently assessed through indicator-based evaluations. There is no standard set of indicators for this purpose. This study looks at the Nordic countries, which are leading countries with respect to eco-innovation. Different indicators to assess financing instruments are analysed with respect to their acceptance, the ease of monitoring, and their robustness. None of the indicators emerges as clearly superior from the analysis. Indicator choice is subject to trade-offs and leaves room for steering evaluation results in a desired direction. The study concludes by discussing potential policy implications of biases in indicator-based evaluation.

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Low Carbon Energy Transitions

10.1093/oso/9780199362554.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kathleen Araújo

Keyword(s):

Nuclear Power ◽

National Policy ◽

Good News ◽

Energy Planning ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Technological Complexity ◽

Energy Transitions ◽

Oil Crisis ◽

Government Workers ◽

Low Carbon Energy

The world is at a pivotal crossroad in energy choices. There is a strong sense that our use of energy must be more sustainable. Moreover, many also broadly agree that a way must be found to rely increasingly on lower carbon energy sources. However, no single or clear solution exists on the means to carry out such a shift at either a national or international level. Traditional energy planning (when done) has revolved around limited cost projections that often fail to take longer term evidence and interactions of a wider set of factors into account. The good news is that evidence does exist on such change in case studies of different nations shifting toward low-carbon energy approaches. In fact, such shifts can occur quite quickly at times, alongside industrial and societal advance, innovation, and policy learning. These types of insights will be important for informing energy debates and decision-making going forward. Low Carbon Energy Transitions: Turning Points in National Policy and Innovation takes an in-depth look at four energy transitions that have occurred since the global oil crisis of 1973: Brazilian biofuels, Danish wind power, French nuclear power, and Icelandic geothermal energy. With these cases, Dr. Araújo argues that significant nationwide shifts to low-carbon energy can occur in under fifteen years, and that technological complexity is not necessarily a major impediment to such shifts. Dr. Araújo draws on more than five years of research, and interviews with over 120 different scientists, government workers, academics, and members of civil society in completing this study. Low Carbon Energy Transitions is written for for professionals in energy, the environment and policy as well as for students and citizens who are interested in critical decisions about energy sustainability. Technology briefings are provided for each of the major technologies in this book, so that scientific and non-scientific readers can engage in more even discussions about the choices that are involved.

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Legitimating power: Solar energy rollout, sustainability metrics and transition politics

Environment and Planning E Nature and Space ◽

10.1177/25148486211024903 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 251484862110249

Author(s):

Siddharth Sareen

Keyword(s):

Solar Energy ◽

Political Ecology ◽

Global Climate ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Analytical Framework ◽

Solar Irradiation ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Sustainability Metrics ◽

Energy Transitions

Increasing recognition of the irrefutable urgency to address the global climate challenge is driving mitigation efforts to decarbonise. Countries are setting targets, technological innovation is making renewable energy sources competitive and fossil fuel actors are leveraging their incumbent privilege and political reach to modulate energy transitions. As techno-economic competitiveness is rapidly reconfigured in favour of sources such as solar energy, governance puzzles dominate the research frontier. Who makes key decisions about decarbonisation based on what metrics, and how are consequent benefits and burdens allocated? This article takes its point of departure in ambitious sustainability metrics for solar rollout that Portugal embraced in the late 2010s. This southwestern European country leads on hydro and wind power, and recently emerged from austerity politics after the 2008–2015 recession. Despite Europe’s best solar irradiation, its big solar push only kicked off in late 2018. In explaining how this arose and unfolded until mid-2020 and why, the article investigates what key issues ambitious rapid decarbonisation plans must address to enhance social equity. It combines attention to accountability and legitimacy to offer an analytical framework geared at generating actionable knowledge to advance an accountable energy transition. Drawing on empirical study of the contingencies that determine the implementation of sustainability metrics, the article traces how discrete acts legitimate specific trajectories of territorialisation by solar photovoltaics through discursive, bureaucratic, technocratic and financial practices. Combining empirics and perspectives from political ecology and energy geographies, it probes the politics of just energy transitions to more low-carbon and equitable societal futures.

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