Energy as a Sociotechnical Problem

Christian Büscher is a senior researcher at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany.Jens Schippl is a senior researcher at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany.Patrick Sumpf is a research associate at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany.

"This book follows a promising approach in putting together various interdisciplinary and up-to-date perspectives on energy transitions in a structured way. It thereby provides interesting new insights for further understanding interrelations of circumstances and finding ways for handling the complexity of energy transitions within a socio-technical background." -- Bert Droste-Franke, Head of Energy Department, EA European Academy of Technology and Innovation Assessment GmbH, Germany"This is a timely and ambitious collection of disciplinary perspectives on the rapidly accelerating shift towards energy transition. By framing the process as a "socio-technical problem", the authors provide an integrative view, which is direly needed to tackle the challenges of this real-world experiment." -- Bernhard Truffer, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Switzerland, and Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands"You won’t find better proof of the value added by a truly interdisciplinary approach to key sociotechnical problems than this book. The last chapter summarizing and demonstrating the case for a more expansive, integrated thinking is the best introduction I know for more effectively addressing the energy transitions taking place across much of the world." -- Emery Roe, Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, University of California, Berkeley, USA

• Chapter 1: IntroductionChristian Büscher, Jens Schippl and Patrick SumpfChapter 2: Framing Energy as a Sociotechnical Problem of Control, Change, and ActionChristian BüscherPart I: Sociotechnical Problem of ControlChapter 3: Power Systems in Transition: Dealing with ComplexityWolfgang Kröger and Cen NanChapter 4: Aligning Institutions and Technologies in Energy SystemsRolf W. KünnekeChapter 5: Exposure and Vulnerability of the Energy System to Internal and External EffectsMarcus Wiens, Wolfgang Raskob, Florian Diehlmann, Stefan Wandler, and Frank SchultmannPart II: Sociotechnical Problem of ChangeChapter 6: Real World Experiments as Generators of Sociotechnical ChangeMatthias GrossChapter 7: Learning and Disruptive Innovation in Energy Transitions: Who Causes Which Constraints in the German Electricity Transition?Gerhard FuchsChapter 8: Energy System Transformation and Inertia in the UK: A Discourse-Institutional PerspectiveAudley Genus, Marfuga Iskandarova and Leigh ChampagniePart III: Sociotechnical Problem of ActionChapter 9: The Energy System and Trust: Public, Organizational, and Transsystemic PerspectivesPatrick SumpfChapter 10: Shaping Our Energy Future: The Irreducible Entanglement of the Ethical, Social, and Technical RealmsRafaela HillerbrandChapter 11: Technology and Motives: The Challenge of Energy Consumption BehaviorSiegmar Otto and Inga WittenbergAddendum: Observing Sociotechnical ProblemsChapter 12: Observing Amplified Sociotechnical Complexity: Challenges for Technology Assessment Regarding Energy TransitionsTodd R. La PorteChapter 13: Energy as a Sociotechnical Problem: A Concluding DiscussionChristian Büscher, Jens Schippl and Patrick Sumpf