| 1. |
- Akimaya, Muhammad, et al.
(författare)
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Political power, economic trade-offs, and game theory in Indonesian gasoline subsidy reform
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gasoline subsidies distort the gasoline market resulting in inefficiencies and a costly burden in government budget. In Indonesia, they have taken up to 15Â % of the government expenditures that arguably could be better spent elsewhere. Governments are aware of these costs, yet face difficulties in removing the policy. Governments would like to release the subsidy fund for other programs while still maintaining political power. Simultaneously, a reform will reduce the purchasing of the population and thus, it is commonly met with strong public resistance. The general population can influence the government’s decision to carry out a reform by exerting pressure that may affect the country’s political stability. There is a vast economics literature analysing the economic impact from a subsidy reform. Meanwhile, the government’s hesitancy is analysed in the political science literature. We combined these two fields by developing a quantitative game theory model to show the interaction between the government and the general population. The model is based on Indonesian data but provides a framework that can be applied elsewhere. Different policy removal schemes are simulated including completely or partially phasing-out the subsidy with and without compensation. An important take-away from our analysis is that it provides a framework showing governments what they have to quantify in order to make an informed policy decision. Another important implication is that the success of the policy reform is highly dependent on the selectorates trust to the government. It strongly supports the political science recommendations of building trust through transparency and inclusion.
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| 2. |
- Bjärstig, Therese, Docent, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Is large-scale wind power a problem, solution, or victim? A frame analysis of the debate in Swedish media
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 83
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Media content analysis was used with the aim of developing an understanding of how the debate on large-scale wind power has played out over time in Sweden, especially in relation to the enactment of national interest areas for wind power. Covering the period 1999 to 2019 and using NVivo for coding and analysis, we reviewed a total of 788 articles in both national and regional daily newspapers. To identify which actors are present in media and how they frame large-scale wind power, we conducted a frame analysis by applying three theoretical elements developed by previous media studies. The first is a diagnostic element used to pinpoint the cause to a problem, the second a prognostic element used to pinpoint the solution to a problem, and the third a motivating element used to identify the person(s) or object(s) suffering from the problem, that is, victim. Our results emphasize that wind power in recent years has been framed as a solution more often than a cause to a problem. One prevailing framing is the localization of large-scale wind power per se and conflicts with other land-uses and national interests. We also identify a tension between international and national policy objectives and local implementation of large-scale wind power. Governmental agencies are the most common framers over time, together with individuals (e.g. locals and second home owners) and wind entrepreneurs. Importantly, whereas politicians and wind entrepreneurs most often frame wind power as a solution, individuals frame it as a cause to a problem.
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| 3. |
- Bravo, Giangiacomo, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Actions speak louder than words : Attitudes, behaviour, and partisan identity in a polarised environmental domain
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 90
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The relationship between environmental attitudes and behaviour is known to be weak, especially when these variables are measured as self-report items in surveys. In addition many environmental questions are highly polarised, making it even more problematic to use survey data to inform policy making. To better explore the attitude–behaviour gap in the context of environmental policies, along with its interaction with partisan identity, we ran an online experiment with 805 U.S. residents. Four key variables – environmental attitudes, self-reported environmental behaviour, observed environmental behaviour (in the form of carbon-offset credit purchase), and partisan identity – were measured, and their interactions in promoting pro-environmental behaviour were analysed. We found that (1) self-reported and real behaviour are almost uncorrelated and (2) partisan identity mainly predicted self-reported not actual environmental behaviour. These results suggest that policy-making needs to rely more on behavioural insight to test policies’ actual effects and to promote real improvement of the local and global environment.
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| 4. |
- Francart, Nicolas, 1993-, et al.
(författare)
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Demands, default options and definitions : How artefacts mediate sustainability in public housing projects in Sweden and Cyprus
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainable building design practices are influenced by requirements, guidelines, criteria for green procurement and certification, assessment tools such as life cycle assessment, etc. This study investigates how such artefacts support or define aspirations towards sustainability, through case studies of public housing projects in Sweden and Cyprus. The study first illustrates how constraints mediated by artefacts set boundaries to the range of available sustainable design options. On one hand, fulfilling sustainability requirements conveyed in regulations, certifications and directives is a major driver of designers' involvement with sustainable design. On the other hand, cost calculations, procurement laws and development plans exclude certain design options. Moreover, default solutions and standardised design guidelines within the organisation streamline and simplify the design process, indirectly determining what sustainable design options are considered. However, these demands and default options are also bent and adapted on a case-by-case basis. The ways in which sustainable design arises from the interplay between artefacts and actors' agency differed significantly between the Swedish and Cypriot cases. Swedish actors' operational definition of sustainability is strongly codified and enforced through inter-connected artefacts. The Miljo center dot byggnad certification is often a de facto definition of sustainability used by actors to set sustainability criteria and targets. Environmental databases for construction products act as black boxes, implicitly determining what aspects of sustainability are addressed in design decisions. Conversely, Cypriot designers' work with sustainability depends to a larger extent on their motivation, experience and ability to convince their peers.
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| 5. |
- Gawel, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Security of supply as a political bargaining issue : Why Germany opted against capacity markets
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 86
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The large-scale deployment of intermittent renewable energy sources for electricity generation has raised concerns regarding the future security of supply. Previous research has studied efficient reforms of electricity markets to address these concerns. In contrast, our paper aims to explain actual policy choices made to provide security of supply. For this purpose, we develop a Public Choice framework, which looks at three interacting decision variables: the timing of regulatory intervention, the decision-making process and the market design. We apply this framework to study the policy debates and decisions related to Germany’s 2016 electricity market reform. The analysis builds on the rich empirical material made available through a consultation process preceding the German parliamentary decision. The electricity market reform eventually combined measures to strengthen the energy-only market and the implementation of only limited new capacity payments through a strategic reserve. This was despite the fact that conventional electricity producers strongly lobbied for a fully-fledged capacity market by which they would have benefited from new broad-band capacity payments. Our analysis suggests that the eventual market design decision was strongly affected by the timing of regulatory intervention (existing oversupply of generation capacity) and the decision-making process (an open consultation process revealing broad opposition against capacity markets).
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| 6. |
- Giotitsas, Christos, et al.
(författare)
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Energy governance as a commons : Engineering alternative socio-technical configurations
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6326 .- 2214-6296. ; 84
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transitioning into a sustainable energy system is becoming ever more pressing as the reality of an anthropogenic ecological crisis becomes difficult to ignore. Due to the complexity of the matter, proposed solutions often address the symptoms of the current socioeconomic configuration rather than its core. To conceptualise possible future energy systems, this Perspective focuses on the disconnect between science and technology and engi-neering studies. On the one hand, this disconnect leads to social science research that passively critiques rather than contributes to tackling societal issues in practice. On the other, it produces technical work limited by the incumbent conceptualisations of economic activity and organisational configurations around production without capturing the broader social and political dynamics. We thus propose a schema for bridging this divide that uses the “commons” as an umbrella concept. We apply this framework on the hardware aspect of a conceptual energy system, which builds on networked microgrids powered by open-source, lower cost, adaptable, socially responsible and sustainable technology. This Perspective is a call to engineers and social scientists alike to form genuine transdisciplinary collaborations for developing radical alternatives to the energy conundrum
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| 7. |
- Hansson, Anders, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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The underworld of tomorrow? How subsurface carbon dioxide storage leaked out of the public debate
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 90
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This perspective paper illustrates that the critical debate regarding geological storage of carbon dioxide has been discursively marginalised in recent years. However, two crucial factors make it reasonable to assume that significant storage-related uncertainties and challenges still exist.Firstly, experiences of geological storage are primarily related to enhanced oil recovery. Secondly, recent assessments indicate a doubling of the required quantity compared to what was envisioned back in 2005. Therefore, there seems to be a contradiction: as the visions of geological carbon dioxide storage have grown increasingly ambitious, the risks and challenges associated with storage have been marginalised.The paper suggests geological storage should become a topic of concern for critical social science and concludes with a reflection on five tentative explanations to the discursive marginalisation: 1) Increasing experience and knowledge have resulted in reduced risks; 2) The climate crisis and urgency have supported a broader acceptance of controversial mitigation options; 3) A shifting focus from fossil fuels with CCS to bioenergy with CCS has introduced new and salient problems that make storage-related challenges seem relatively less significant; 4) Coupling CCS to bioenergy has disarmed critics that primarily argue against prolongation of the fossil fuel era, and finally 5) Familiarisation and normalisation processes.
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| 8. |
- Hasselqvist, Hanna, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Household energy resilience: Shifting perspectives to reveal opportunities for renewable energy futures in affluent contexts
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research and Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 88
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Energy resilience is an important focus for energy policy and research, since the energy system is increasingly facing challenges such as power shortages, e.g. due to increased renewable energy production, and risks of power outages caused by extreme weathers. Typically, energy resilience in these contexts focuses on infrastructure and securing supply of electricity despite disturbances. This paper contributes a complementary perspective on resilience, which takes households as a starting point for investigating resilience. Building on understandings of resilience from several disciplines, we suggest a definition of household energy resilience that can be used to explore how households can ensure a good life in a future with variable availability of electricity. Furthermore, we draw on current ideas of future domestic energy use in energy affluent contexts (backup energy sources, energy efficiency, flexibility, and energy sufficiency) to create a framework for exploring household energy resilience. We find a potential for diversity within and between the different ideas, that is not always present in mainstream visions of future energy use. With the perspective of household energy resilience, we wish to challenge the perception of electricity demand as non-negotiable and to reveal opportunities for supporting households in becoming more resilient in an uncertain future.
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| 9. |
- Kanda, Wisdom, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Policy coherence in a fragmented context : the case of biogas systems in Brazil
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - Amsterdam, Netherlands : Elsevier. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Policy mixes are needed to overcome the different barriers hindering sustainability transitions. This creates the need for policy coherence. Policy coherence studies in sustainability transitions literature are dominated by European cases, limiting their generalizability. This article analyzes policy mixes related to biogas systems and their related coherence issues, and, how that influences biogas production and use in Brazil. We identified policy coherence within and between biogas related sectors and over time, showing how the pre-conditions for biogas production, distribution and use differ considerably between the Brazilian states. This points to a need for decentralized governance structures to enable policy differentiation, as a complement to policy coherence. The article concludes that the characteristics of biogas systems as being locally embedded constitutes a challenge in hierarchical market economies such as Brazil, where policy development, resource mobilization and allocation are highly centralized.
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| 10. |
- Lefvert, Adrian, et al.
(författare)
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What are the potential paths for carbon capture and storage in Sweden? : A multi-level assessment of historical and current developments
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Carbon capture and storage (CCS), including bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), could contribute to climate change mitigation strategies. However, the 2020s is not the first time that CCS is high on the agenda. This study explores the differences between the past and current developments of CCS and discusses how incumbent actors' experiences can inform the understanding of potential future energy system transitions in Sweden. For this purpose, a multi-level perspective (MLP) analysis was conducted based on documents, interviews and focus groups with key actors. Since the 2000s, increased urgency of climate change has further pushed policy makers into action. In addition, there is a new framing of CCS that underscores the potential of BECCS to provide negative carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as well as prospects for offshore storage of CO2 in Norway and other territories. As such, this study shows that Sweden could be on a transformation pathway towards implementing CCS alongside other mitigation measures.
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