EIRES Lunch Lecture

The energy transition: a human-centered perspective towards tipping

Claudia R. Binder, EPFL

In collaboration with:

Matteo Barsanti, Dr. Mert Duygan, Dr. Maria Anna Hecher, and Gloria Serra-Coch

The current climate, energy and societal crises have shown that we need new tools for designing measures and strategies for achieving a more sustainable future. At the core of addressing the challenges is the energy transition. Scholars have found that the transition towards a low-carbon energy regime requires not only the development of new energy technologies but also deep-structural changes in society: these concern radical, systemic shifts in values and beliefs, in patterns of social behavior, and in governance regimes. Particularly, for designing transition pathways toward sustainability, the understanding of tipping points is crucial. Tipping points are defined as “the point where a small intervention leads to a large and long-term consequence for the evolution of a complex system, profoundly altering its mode of operation.”. When surpassing a tipping point, both the structure and the dynamics of the system change, and strongly reinforcing feedback loops emerge which can amplify a small change, accelerating the transition towards a difficult-to-revert new system state.

We present results of three research projects related to three core aspects in energy transitions and tipping towards sustainability. First, enabling conditions for change: what is the role of external boundary conditions and events in triggering and reducing the energy for change? How flexible are consumers in their technology use given changes in their environment? Second, drivers and barriers of change: what are the triggers and barriers of technology adoption (PV)? How do adopters differ among themselves and how do they differ from potential and unlikely adopters? What role does technology co-adoption play? Third, connectivity and social norms: how do social networks affect technology adoption? When and how do they stabilize a transition process?

Our results show that actors cannot be treated as a homogenous group. In particular, (1) depending on socio-economic conditions, and personal attitudes, actors exhibit different energy consumption patterns and are willing to shift them in time given information on costs, renewable energy supply or demand peaks. (2) Co-adoption of energy technologies such as photovoltaics, heat pumps and electric vehicles, plays a significant role and should be considered when studying adoption patterns. (3) potential adopters differ from unlikely adopters with respect to various aspects related to information exchange, personal context, sociodemographic and psychosocial factors. This shows that indeed some adopter groups may be closer to adoption than others; and (4) the analysis of social networks of the technology suppliers and adopters shows the relevance of trust as a key element for fostering the transition. At the end, we address the question of how these insights relate to tipping in energy transition and present the need for further research.

EIRES Lunch lectures are open for anyone interested in the latest developments in energy storage and conversion. Different keynote speakers from academia and industry will present their views, solutions and outlooks on the topic. The lectures leave plenty of room for discussion. We value your input. Looking forward meeting you!

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