Interdisciplinary Energy Research Research Articles

Lessons from a Decade of Philanthropy for Interdisciplinary Energy Research

What we learned in reviewing 10 years of grantmaking for research aimed at decarbonizing energy systems.

Targeted and Tangential Effects—A Novel Framework for Energy Research and Practitioners

Interdisciplinary energy research that focuses on the upcoming energy transition is growing at pace and scale given the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. As a consequence, integrated interventions are needed to support the energy transition. However, gaps in the energy literature remain on how to manage uncertainties inherent in energy transition. Based on a review that showcases some of the shortcomings in the current literature, this paper introduces a novel framework to provide a structure on how to engage with uncertainty called targeted and tangential effects. Relevant case studies in residential energy and energy justice as well as household retrofits and health are used to demonstrate how the targeted and tangential framework can be used. The targeted and tangential effect concept provides an innovative framework for energy researchers and practitioners to use to proactively recognize and identify uncertainty in the energy transition. Benefits and shortcomings of this framework are presented. Areas of future research are identified, including relevance for policy.

Shifts in the smart research agenda? 100 priority questions to accelerate sustainable energy futures

Energy transitions are at the top of global agendas in response to the growing challenges of climate change and international conflict, with the EU positioning itself as playing a pivotal role in addressing climate risks and sustainability imperatives. European energy transition policies identify ‘smart consumption’ as a key element of these efforts, which have previously been explored from a predominantly technical perspective thus often failing to identify or address fundamental interlinkages with social systems and consequences. This paper aims to contribute to interdisciplinary energy research by analysing a forward looking ‘Horizon Scan’ research agenda for smart consumption, driven by the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). Reflecting on an extensive systematic Delphi Method exercise surveying over 70 SSH scholars from various institutional settings across Europe, we highlight what SSH scholars see as future directions for smart consumption research. Building from seven thematic areas (under which are grouped 100 SSH research questions), the study identifies three key ‘shifts’ this new smart research agenda represents, when compared to previous agendas: (1) From technological inevitability to political choice, highlighting the need for a wider political critique, with the potential to open up discussions of the instrumentalisation of smart research; (2) From narrow representation to diverse inclusion, moving beyond the shortcomings of current discourses for engaging marginalised communities; and (3) From individual consumers to interconnected citizens, reframing smart consumption to offer a broader model of social change and governance. Social Sciences and Humanities scholarship is essential to address these shifts in meaningful (rather than tokenistic) ways. This agenda and the shifts it embodies represent key tools to enable better interdisciplinary working between SSH and teams from the technical and natural sciences.

An Open Digital Platform to Support Interdisciplinary Energy Research and Practice—Conceptualization

Energy research itself is changing due to digitalization and the trend to open science. While this change enables new research, it also increases the amount of, and need for, available data and models. Therefore, a platform for open digital energy research and development is required to support researchers and practitioners with their new needs and to enable FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) research data management in energy research. We present a functional and technological concept for such a platform based on six elements: Competence to enable researchers and practitioners to find suitable partners for their projects, Methods to give an overview on the diverse possible research methods within energy research, Repository to support finding data and models for simulation of energy systems, Simulation to couple these models and data to create user-defined simulation scenarios, Transparency to publish results and other content relevant for the different stakeholder in energy research, and Core to interconnect all elements and to offer a unified entry point. We discuss the envisioned use of the outlined platform with use cases addressing three relevant stakeholder groups.

Energy law in crisis: an energy justice revolution needed

Abstract Energy research has been growing in a holistic way whereby researchers are connecting their research to the bigger picture of an ‘energy system’. Energy law scholarship has lacked this direction and traditionally has focused too narrowly on specific topics such as electricity markets or extraction. A major limitation has permeated through scholarship in the area and relatively no connection is made to the energy system. Energy law scholarship did not for example, state where the energy system can improve and deliver a just outcome. The lack of identifying such a connection has permitted energy law scholars to fall under the radar and continue to work on issues that in essence support the continued development of traditional energy sources, ie, fossil fuels. Only a minority of researchers have shifted their focus in a real and impactful way to ensuring energy law delivers just outcomes for society. Energy justice scholarship has allowed scholars to do that. It has emerged as a major interdisciplinary energy research topic yet there remain remarkably few energy law scholars interacting with it. Many scholars remain reluctant to read beyond traditional research in energy law not to mention engage in interdisciplinary energy journals which increasingly publish legal scholarship. This article calls for the further development of the modern energy law scholar. For such scholars to exist, there needs to be a revolution in energy law scholarship to ensure law contributes to the ongoing global climate emergency.

A health research interdisciplinary approach for energy studies: Confirming substantial rebound effects among solar photovoltaic households in Germany

Interdisciplinary research is common in health studies and is developing in energy studies. This paper describes the process of interdisciplinary energy research in a large, three-year study of rebound effects among German households with photovoltaic panels (“prosumers”). The study aimed to estimate whether, and by how much, prosumers increase their electricity consumption as a consequence of installing photovoltaics. This is important because these rebound effects can thwart government goals for decarbonising electricity generation. However, the main focus of this paper is on the interdisciplinary process of obtaining our results. Our three research teams investigated rebound effects via qualitative interviews, a country-wide quantitative survey, and an analysis of self-reported consumption data. Following a classic interdisciplinary model from health studies we then brought our findings together in a series of carefully planned and led discussions, where the contradictions between the three sets of results led to new insights. We then took the interdisciplinary process a step further, as the research teams re-analysed their data from this fresh perspective. This led to consensus and the novel finding that Germany’s current regulatory and pricing regime inadvertently rewards prosumers who over-consume electricity, thereby compromising policy goals. The success of the process was due to: embedding interdisciplinarity in the initial research planning and funding application; constant interactions throughout the research period; respect for each other’s different disciplinary approaches; strong and well-coordinated leadership of inter-team discussions; and the novel extension of each team revisiting and reanalysing its data on the basis of the insights from these discussions.

Educating the energy informatics specialist: opportunities and challenges in light of research and industrial trends

Contemporary energy research is becoming more interdisciplinary through the involvement of technical, economic, and social aspects that must be addressed simultaneously. Within such interdisciplinary energy research, the novel domain of energy informatics plays an important role, as it involves different disciplines addressing the socio-techno-economic challenges of sustainable energy and power systems in a holistic manner. The objective of this paper is to draw an overview of the novel domain of energy informatics by addressing the educational opportunities as well as related challenges in light of current trends and the future direction of research and industrial innovation. In this study we discuss the energy informatics domain in a way that goes beyond a purely scientific research perspective. This paper widens the analyses by including reflections on current and future didactic approaches with industrial innovation and research as a background. This paper provides key recommendations for the content of a foundational introductory energy informatics course, as well as suggestions on distinguishing features to be addressed through more specialized courses in the field. The importance of this work is based on the need for better guidelines for a more appropriate education of a new generation of experts who can take on the novel interdisciplinary challenges present in future integrated, sustainable energy systems.Article highlightsDidactic approaches in the energy informatics domain are discussed based on research and industrial trends.Research trends and industrial innovation driven by energy informatics are investigated.A fundamental framework for an energy informatics course is defined together with specialized distinguishing features.

Tackling the challenge of interdisciplinary energy research: A research toolkit

Interdisciplinary research is especially relevant in the energy field where ambitious political targets for the energy transition require rapid advancements in technology and simultaneous developments in social norms and citizen engagement. Challenges related to interdisciplinary communication and the integration of findings across disciplines have been cited in past work to inhibit project execution and the production of holistic research outputs. This paper offers specific tools and recommendations to overcome these challenges and facilitate an efficient collaboration. Specifically, a method for building a common project vocabulary and strategies for face-to-face group discussions are presented and tested. Recommendations regarding the usage and effectiveness of these strategies are based on the experiences of the SMARTEES Horizon 2020 interdisciplinary research project. The toolkit includes reproduction code for analyzing a project’s vocabulary, and a framework for planning and implementing effective structured discussions at project meetings.

Rethinking resilience: A cross-epistemic resilience framework for interdisciplinary energy research

The transformation of critical infrastructure such as energy systems toward sustainability imposes a multitude of challenges that are social-technical in nature and require interdisciplinary collaboration. Resilience has received growing attention as a concept to bridge different scientific disciplines in research on energy systems, given their social, ecological, and technical elements. However, a resilience framework that is suitable for merging notions of resilience as a measurable property with notions of resilience as a social construction or an observatory scheme is still a desideratum. Against this backdrop, we present a cross-epistemic resilience (CER) framework for interdisciplinary research on energy and other social-ecological-technical systems. In particular, we introduce the distinction between positivist first-order and constructivist second-order observations and identify four modes of inquiry in resilience research. Our CER framework contributes to interdisciplinary resilience research by pointing out how assumedly incompatible perspectives are able to inform and constructively irritate each other and, hence, enhance the overall understanding of energy systems. The framework has been tested in a radically interdisciplinary research project. We draw on electricity systems as our prime example to illustrate the application of our arguments and concepts.

How to conceptualise energy law and policy for an interdisciplinary audience: The case of post-Brexit UK

Interdisciplinary energy research is essential. It advances our understanding of potential transitions from high to low carbon energy systems. However, it is easier to propose than deliver. It requires translation into a simpler language, to aid communication, but not at the expense of the conceptual language that drives our understanding of complex energy systems. We combine legal, political science, and policy studies to show how to balance the need to communicate accessibly and recognise legal and policymaking complexity. We begin with a statement so accepted in legal studies that it has become a truism: the law in the books is not the same as the law in action. The allocation of legal competences is only one influence on policymaking in a complex system. We describe three key ways to conceptualise this relationship between law, policy, and energy systems, focusing on the: (1) ‘on paper’ legal separation of powers between different governments, (2) interaction between law and policy in practice, including blurry boundaries between formal responsibility and informal influence, and (3) role of law as one of many contributors to policymaking. We use these approaches to explain the implications of Brexit for UK energy policy.

Gender myths in energy poverty literature: A Critical Discourse Analysis

There is increasing sensitivity to the importance of gender in energy poverty literature, although there remains relatively scant analysis of energy and gender from feminist development scholars. The purpose of this article is to contribute to addressing this gap. Its aims are two-fold; firstly, it provides a brief introduction to feminist development literature, and its relevance to the field of energy poverty. Secondly, the article presents the findings of a gendered or feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of energy poverty scholarship. It is argued that, at present, energy poverty discourse in academic literature constructs problematic ‘gender myths’ of women, gender equality and its relationship with energy. In doing so, the discourse instrumentalises women and gender for particular energy interventions, and does so at the expense of gender equality outcomes. As such, it highlights the need for greater attention by energy scholars, policy-makers and practitioners to feminist literature and concepts in both research and practice, and the continued inclusion of feminist scholars in interdisciplinary energy research teams.

Seven questions around interdisciplinarity in energy research

“Interdisciplinarity” is one of the most “fashionable” words to be found in contemporary energy research. The hype and the fuzziness that can characterise its use conceals a bright promise for research: the possibility of opening up new research perspectives, of finding new answers, but also of raising new questions. In this article, we explore interdisciplinarity in energy research through seven questions (corresponding to seven sections): “what does it mean?”, “why?”, “who’s involved?”, “how?”, “what?”, “what barriers?”, and “what prospects?” In the “what does it mean?” section, we will try to illustrate the “degrees of interdisciplinarity” in energy research by means of definitions emanating from recent work. The “why” question focuses on the main benefits of interdisciplinarity, while “who’s involved?” raises the issue of “by whom and with whom”. The “how” section essentially looks at methods and frameworks. The “what” question introduces the main topics of interdisciplinary energy research, presenting the papers that make up this special issue. “What barriers?” and “what prospects?” conclude the paper with an attempt to identify the new research paths that are beginning to emerge.

Should we quit our jobs? Challenges, barriers and recommendations for interdisciplinary energy research

Many plea for a better integration of social sciences in energy research, which would imply more comprehensive interdisciplinary energy research. We argue that in order to achieve this, institutional barriers and research challenges need to be recognised and addressed. We identify six challenges and barriers, and provide recommendations for working towards solutions. We conclude that to engage in interdisciplinary research implies extra costs and fewer rewards for all researchers, particularly early and mid-career academics. We propose a new conceptualisation of practices and incentive structures among academic institutions, funding agencies, and publication outlets, and urge all energy researchers to join this debate.

Assembling Interdisciplinary Energy Research through an Actor Network Theory (ANT) frame

Much has been achieved over the last decade to highlight the need for energy research to look beyond the technical dimensions of energy systems to include the social elements of energy consumption and production. Inter-disciplinary research in this area has thus been growing. The degree of penetration by the social sciences into technical energy analysis, however, has largely been weak not just within academic research but also in policy and decision-making. This paper introduces Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a frame and mode of thinking about inter-disciplinary energy research in practice. In presenting a short history of its classical status, evolution and more contemporary applications, this paper highlights the concepts of social-material heterogeneity, enrolment, enactment and translation and some applications to energy research. It argues that an ANT approach: (1) expands the purview of analysis to the larger web of people and things that co-constitute energy systems; (2) gives visibility to previously inconspicuous actors and processes; (3) actively engages with ignorance and uncertainty in scientific experimentation; and (4) identifies alternative ways of assembling technologies, people and environments that are fairer and more sustainable.

Diagramming social practice theory: An interdisciplinary experiment exploring practices as networks

Achieving a transition to a low-carbon energy system is now widely recognised as a key challenge facing humanity. To date, the vast majority of research addressing this challenge has been conducted within the disciplines of science, engineering and economics utilising quantitative and modelling techniques. However, there is growing awareness that meeting energy challenges requires fundamentally sociotechnical solutions and that the social sciences have an important role to play. This is an interdisciplinary challenge but, to date, there remain very few explorations of, or reflections on, interdisciplinary energy research in practice. This paper seeks to change that by reporting on an interdisciplinary experiment to build new models of energy demand on the basis of cutting-edge social science understandings. The process encouraged the social scientists to communicate their ideas more simply, whilst allowing engineers to think critically about the embedded assumptions in their models in relation to society and social change. To do this, the paper uses a particular set of theoretical approaches to energy use behaviour known collectively as social practice theory – and explores the potential of more quantitative forms of network analysis to provide a formal framework by means of which to diagram and visualise practices. The aim of this is to gain insight into the relationships between the elements of a practice, so increasing the ultimate understanding of how practices operate. Graphs of practice networks are populated based on new empirical data drawn from a survey of different types (or variants) of laundry practice. The resulting practice networks are analysed to reveal characteristics of elements and variants of practice, such as which elements could be considered core to the practice, or how elements between variants overlap, or can be shared. This promises insights into energy intensity, flexibility and the rootedness of practices (i.e. how entrenched/established they are) and so opens up new questions and possibilities for intervention. The novelty of this approach is that it allows practice data to be represented graphically using a quantitative format without being overly reductive. Its usefulness is that it is readily applied to large datasets, provides the capacity to interpret social practices in new ways and serves to open up potential links with energy modelling. More broadly, a significant dimension of novelty has been the interdisciplinary approach, radically different to that normally seen in energy research. This paper is relevant to a broad audience of social scientists and engineers interested in integrating social practices with energy engineering.

Another case of 'same bed, different dreams'? Assessing divergence and multidimensionality in energy evaluations and implications for interdisciplinary research and energy management

This study represents an in-depth effort to investigate divergence and multidimensionality in energy evaluations. Two forms of evaluative responses are investigated, namely affective energy perception and cognitive energy beliefs. Specifically, we assessed the role of education background and gender in influencing affective energy perception. Additionally, we examined for multidimensionality in cognitive energy beliefs, 399 university students from engineering and business disciplines and students from a non-university institution participated in a survey in 2011 to assess their affective energy perception as well as their beliefs of social, economic and environmental harms and benefits associated with diverse energy sources. Findings relating to nuclear and fossil-based (i.e., coal, natural gas and oil) energy sources are presented in this paper. Analyses indicate significant divergence in affect towards nuclear energy between young adults from different education disciplines and levels. Findings are also suggestive of an additive effect of education background and gender on energy perception. Furthermore, participants not only significantly differentiated between social, economic and environmental dimensions in their energy beliefs, they also exhibited a general confounding of harm and benefit beliefs. Implications for energy management and interdisciplinary energy research collaborations are discussed.

Embedding Social Sciences in Interdisciplinary Research: Recent Experiences from Interdisciplinary Energy Research

Ulrike Felt's article calling for a reconsideration of the role of social sciences and humanities in Europe is welcome and timely (Felt, 2014). It also reminds us about some long-standing opportuni...

Pandora’s box: Photovoltaic energy and economic crisis in Greece

The Greek photovoltaic program was launched in 2006 and rebranded in 2011 as a way to repay debt and decrease national deficit. The scheme promotes new livelihood opportunities on all levels, from micro-scale home installations to macro-scale solar parks producing energy for international export. Offering potential economic stability to a nation at the fore of global neoliberal crisis, solar energy also presents an alternative to petroleum and lignite that currently dominate the energy sector. However, there are many hesitations and conflicting rhetorics surrounding the photovoltaic drive. Its success or failure as a sustainable economic pathway lies as much in understanding local nuances of social relations and historical consciousness as in governmental policy. This paper presents the findings from preliminary research that aims to “scale” all levels of the Greek photovoltaic experience and raises questions of energy policy, neoliberal rationale, and the relationship between local and global socioeconomic systems. It considers the everyday cultural complexities of implementing energy policy and assesses the contribution of an ethnographic approach to interdisciplinary energy research.

Interdisciplinary research for the transformation of the energy system

The series of articles which will be published in Energy, Sustainability & Society during the next months results from presentations at the International Conference “Micro Perspectives for Decentralized Energy Supply” which took place at Technische Universitat in Berlin in April 2011 (more information at http://www.microenergysystems.tu-berlin.de/conference2011). The conference brought together scientists from different disciplines as well as practitioners in the field of decentralized energy supply from all over the world. The conference focused on the challenges and potentials of a transformation from a fossil fuel based energy supply towards a supply with energy from different renewable sources. This transformation, which includes a shift from centralized to decentralized systems, is currently taking place in highly industrialized countries as well as in developing countries. The discussion showed that there are some challenges or crucial points which are quite similar worldwide even if the economic and social structures as well as the available natural resources differ substantially. Some of these points are taken up by the papers of this and the following issues. Several of the selected contributions stress the fact that there is no “one fits all-technology but that the implementation of certain technologies and the mix of energy supply from different renewable sources should be the result of assessing economic as well as ecological and social aspects. Scenarios as they are developed in some of the papers which compare the energy potential and costs of different options, help to identify the appropriate energy mix for certain contexts. Since it is not easy for administration and planners to consider multiple perspectives, some authors work on instruments or tools which facilitate decision making by visualizing the results of different parameters and integrating them on a certain spatial level, for example with geographical information systems (GIS). These tools also make it possible to compare the impacts of certain technologies or production methods on different natural resources such as biodiversity or water and soil quality versus the reduction of climate gas emissions. Other contributions focus on the analysis of case studies such as family farms or renewable energy regions, identifying organizational aspects which allow realizing sustainability potentials on the level of single enterprises or regions. Benefitting from synergies in cooperative structures and maintaining flexibility for continuous innovation processes seem to be crucial factors in very different contexts. Last not least it seems important to analyse the mechanisms and impacts of governance policies which support the transformation of the energy system. One important aspect is the question about the type of constellation which is necessary for the rise of innovative policies. Another aspect are the unforeseen impacts of certain policies. Different authors mention the negative ecological side effects of certain policies which were aiming at reducing climate gas emissions by supporting the production of biomass for energy use. While the individual focus of the papers is very different, they have in common that they often take up topics which are located in the intersection of several disciplines. As the editors Mr Narodoslawsky and Mrs Fiedler pointed out in the first editorial of this journal, this type of research is necessary in the complex field of innovative energy systems and sustainable development. We are therefore very grateful that the journal Energy, Sustainability & Society provides a floor for the discussion of results from interdisciplinary energy research and want to express our thanks to the reviewers who accepted the challenge of reviewing papers which might not have been at the core of their discipline. We are convinced that it is this type of learning process which is necessary for a successful transformation of the current energy system.

The Northern Ireland assembly election of 1982

Interdisciplinary energy research is essential. It advances our understanding of potential transitions from high to low carbon energy systems. However, it is easier to propose than deliver. It requires translation into a simpler language, to aid communication, but not at the expense of the conceptual language that drives our understanding of complex energy systems. We combine legal, political science, and policy studies to show how to balance the need to communicate accessibly and recognise legal and policymaking complexity. We begin with a statement so accepted in legal studies that it has become a truism: the law in the books is not the same as the law in action. The allocation of legal competences is only one influence on policymaking in a complex system. We describe three key ways to conceptualise this relationship between law, policy, and energy systems, focusing on the: (1) ‘on paper’ legal separation of powers between different governments, (2) interaction between law and policy in practice, including blurry boundaries between formal responsibility and informal influence, and (3) role of law as one of many contributors to policymaking. We use these approaches to explain the implications of Brexit for UK energy policy.