Household energy resilience: Shifting perspectives to reveal opportunities for renewable energy futures in affluent contexts

Hanna Hasselqvist,Sara Renström,Helena Strömberg,Maria Håkansson

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2022.102498

Hanna Hasselqvist, Sara Renström + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102498

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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.

Highlights

In order to meet the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and to address climate change in line with the Paris Agreement, tran sitioning to renewable energy production is urgently needed
Based on the household as the entity and a good life as the entity's function, which should be fulfilled despite disturbances in a renewable energy future, we have developed the following definition of household energy resilience: As an interwoven part of everyday life, household energy resilience is to ensure a good life through adjusting what activities that are performed, when they are performed and how they are performed in the face of expected and unexpected power outages and shortages as well as to prepare for future adjustments of activities and to more fundamentally change to reduce the need for adjustments
Drawing on existing literature about resilience and domestic energy use, this paper has suggested a new framework for household energy resilience

Summary

Introduction

In order to meet the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and to address climate change in line with the Paris Agreement, tran sitioning to renewable energy production is urgently needed. It is esti mated that the share of renewables in global power generation needs to be 85% by 2050, and provide about two thirds of the total energy pro duction, to meet these goals [1]. Fossil fuels are controllable in a way that most renewable energy sources are not – you can burn more coal, but you cannot get the sun to shine brighter. Power shortages today may require load shedding, where electricity supply is cut off to some customers, but could in the future include more refined ways of limiting electricity use to prioritised appliances and systems [2,3]

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