Energy as a Sociotechnical Problem offers an innovative approach to equip interdisciplinary research on sociotechnical transitions with coherence and focus. The book emphasizes sociotechnical problems in three analytical dimensions: - In the control dimension, contributing authors examine how control can be maintained despite increasing complexity and uncertainty, e.g., in power grid operations or on energy markets; - In the change dimension, the authors explore if and how change is possible despite the need for stable orientation, e.g., regarding discourses, real-world labs and learning; - Finally, in the action dimension, the authors analyze how the ability to act on a permanent basis is sustained despite opaqueness and ignorance, exemplified by the work on trust, capabilities or individual motives. Drawing on contributions from engineering, economics, philosophy, political science, psychology and sociology, the book assembles a range of classic and current themes including innovation, resilience, institutional economics, design or education. Energy as a Sociotechnical Problem presents the ongoing transformation of the energy complex as a multidimensional process, in which the analytical dimensions interact with each other in shaping the energy future. As such, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy transitions, energy science and environmental social science more generally, as well as to practitioners working within the field of energy policy.

This book offers an interdisciplinary discussion of the fundamental issues concerning policies for sustainable transition to renewable energies from the perspectives of sociologists, physicists, engineers, economists, anthropologists, biologists, ecologists and policy analysts. Adopting a combined approach, these are analysed taking both complex systems and social practice theories into consideration to provide deeper insights into the evolution of energy systems. The book then draws a series of important conclusions and makes recommendations for the research community and policy makers involved in the design and implementation of policies for sustainable energy transitions.

This book re-conceptualizes energy justice as a unifying agenda for scholars and practitioners working on the issues faced in the trilemna of energy security, poverty and climate change. McCauley argues that justice should be central to the rebalancing of the global energy system and also provides an assessment of the key injustices in our global energy systems of production and consumption. Energy Justice develops a new innovative analytical framework underpinned by principles of justice designed for investigating unfairness and inequalities in energy availability, accessibility and sustainability. It applies this framework to fossil fuel and alternative low carbon energy systems with reference to multiple case studies throughout the world. McCauley also presents an energy justice roadmap that inspires new solutions to the energy trilemna. This includes how we redistribute the benefits and burdens of energy developments, how to engage the new energy ‘prosumer’ and how to recognise the unrepresented. This book will appeal to academics and students interested in issues of security and justice within global energy decision-making.

​This book defines and charts the barriers and future of vehicle-to-grid technology: a technology that could dramatically reduce emissions, create revenue, and accelerate the adoption of battery electric cars. This technology connects the electric power grid and the transportation system in ways that will enable electric vehicles to store renewable energy and offer valuable services to the electricity grid and its markets. To understand the complex features of this emergent technology, the authors explore the current status and prospect of vehicle-to-grid, and detail the sociotechnical barriers that may impede its fruitful deployment. The book concludes with a policy roadmap to advise decision-makers on how to optimally implement vehicle-to-grid and capture its benefits to society while attempting to avoid the impediments discussed earlier in the book.

Hydrogen energy has the potential to make a major contribution to the resolution of pressing social and environmental problems such as carbon emissions, energy security and local air pollution. Yet why isn't the global energy system switching to hydrogen?

This book explores how, in the wake of the Anthropocene, the growing call for urgent decarbonisation and accelerated energy transitions might have unintended consequences for energy poverty, justice and democracy, especially in the global South. Dilemmas of Energy Transitions in the Global South brings together theoretical and empirical contributions focused on rethinking energy transitions conceptually from and for the global South, and highlights issues of justice and inclusivity. It argues that while urgency is critical for energy transitions in a climate-changed world, we must be wary of conflating goals and processes, and enquire what urgency means for due process. Drawing from a range of authors with expertise spanning environmental justice, design theory, ethics of technology, conflict and gender, it examines case studies from countries including Bolivia, Sri Lanka, India, The Gambia and Lebanon in order to expand our understanding of what energy transitions are, and how just energy transitions can be done in different parts of the world. Overall, driven by a postcolonial and decolonial sensibility, this book brings to the fore new concepts and ideas to help balance the demands of justice and urgency, to flag relevant but often overlooked issues, and to provide new pathways forward. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy transitions, environmental justice, climate change and developing countries. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003052821 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This important book addresses how long term and large scale shifts from one socio-technical system to another come about, using insights from evolutionary economics, sociology of technology and innovation studies. These major changes involve not just technological changes, but also changes in markets, regulation, culture, industrial networks and infrastructure. The book develops a multi-level perspective, arguing that transitions take place through the alignment of multiple processes at three levels: niche, regime and landscape. This perspective is illustrated by detailed historical case studies: the transition from sailing ships to steamships, the transition from horse-and-carriage to automobiles and the transition from propeller-piston engine aircraft to turbojets. This book will be of great interest to researchers in innovation studies, evolutionary economics, sociology of technology and environmental studies. It will also be useful for policy makers involved in long-term sustainability and systems transitions issues.