Energy technologies: Systemic aspects, technological trajectories, and institutional frameworks

Abstract

Technology policies to promote a transition “away from the carbon atom” must take into account the systemic nature of technological change in the energy sector. Technological interrelatedness, infrastructure requirements, and lumpiness of energy sector investments result in the need to consider technological change as systemic, i.e., beyond the introduction and diffusion of individual technologies. Consequences of technological advances are ambivalent. On the one hand, technological improvements in existing technologies can slow down the development of new alternatives and radical technological shifts. On the other hand, technological change generates variety within the system of energy supply and end-use technologies, leading to technological pluralism. Thus, technology dynamics are characterized by a complex interplay between irreversibility and diversity. It is on this basis that public technology policy oriented toward sustainable energy development has to be formulated.