TY - JOUR
T1 - An agenda for future Social Sciences and Humanities research on energy efficiency
T2 - 100 priority research questions
AU - Foulds, Chris
AU - Royston, Sarah
AU - Berker, Thomas
AU - Nakopoulou, Efi
AU - Bharucha, Zareen Pervez
AU - Robison, Rosie
AU - Abram, Simone
AU - Ančić, Branko
AU - Arapostathis, Stathis
AU - Badescu, Gabriel
AU - Bull, Richard
AU - Cohen, Jed
AU - Dunlop, Tessa
AU - Dunphy, Niall
AU - Dupont, Claire
AU - Fischer, Corinna
AU - Gram-Hanssen, Kirsten
AU - Grandclément, Catherine
AU - Heiskanen, Eva
AU - Labanca, Nicola
AU - Jeliazkova, Maria
AU - Jörgens, Helge
AU - Keller, Margit
AU - Kern, Florian
AU - Lombardi, Patrizia
AU - Mourik, Ruth
AU - Ornetzeder, Michael
AU - Pearson, Peter J.G.
AU - Rohracher, Harald
AU - Sahakian, Marlyne
AU - Sari, Ramazan
AU - Standal, Karina
AU - Živčič, Lidija
N1 - © The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Decades of techno-economic energy policymaking and research have meant evidence from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)—including critical reflections on what changing a society’s relation to energy (efficiency) even means—have been underutilised. In particular, (i) the SSH have too often been sidelined and/or narrowly pigeonholed by policymakers, funders, and other decision-makers when driving research agendas, and (ii) the setting of SSH-focused research agendas has not historically embedded inclusive and deliberative processes. The aim of this paper is to address these gaps through the production of a research agenda outlining future SSH research priorities for energy efficiency. A Horizon Scanning exercise was run, which sought to identify 100 priority SSH questions for energy efficiency research. This exercise included 152 researchers with prior SSH expertise on energy efficiency, who together spanned 62 (sub-)disciplines of SSH, 23 countries, and a full range of career stages. The resultant questions were inductively clustered into seven themes as follows: (1) Citizenship, engagement and knowledge exchange in relation to energy efficiency; (2) Energy efficiency in relation to equity, justice, poverty and vulnerability; (3) Energy efficiency in relation to everyday life and practices of energy consumption and production; (4) Framing, defining and measuring energy efficiency; (5) Governance, policy and political issues around energy efficiency; (6) Roles of economic systems, supply chains and financial mechanisms in improving energy efficiency; and (7) The interactions, unintended consequences and rebound effects of energy efficiency interventions. Given the consistent centrality of energy efficiency in policy programmes, this paper highlights that well-developed SSH approaches are ready to be mobilised to contribute to the development, and/or to understand the implications, of energy efficiency measures and governance solutions. Implicitly, it also emphasises the heterogeneity of SSH policy evidence that can be produced. The agenda will be of use for both (1) those new to the energy-SSH field (including policyworkers), for learnings on the capabilities and capacities of energy-SSH, and (2) established energy-SSH researchers, for insights on the collectively held futures of energy-SSH research.
AB - Decades of techno-economic energy policymaking and research have meant evidence from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)—including critical reflections on what changing a society’s relation to energy (efficiency) even means—have been underutilised. In particular, (i) the SSH have too often been sidelined and/or narrowly pigeonholed by policymakers, funders, and other decision-makers when driving research agendas, and (ii) the setting of SSH-focused research agendas has not historically embedded inclusive and deliberative processes. The aim of this paper is to address these gaps through the production of a research agenda outlining future SSH research priorities for energy efficiency. A Horizon Scanning exercise was run, which sought to identify 100 priority SSH questions for energy efficiency research. This exercise included 152 researchers with prior SSH expertise on energy efficiency, who together spanned 62 (sub-)disciplines of SSH, 23 countries, and a full range of career stages. The resultant questions were inductively clustered into seven themes as follows: (1) Citizenship, engagement and knowledge exchange in relation to energy efficiency; (2) Energy efficiency in relation to equity, justice, poverty and vulnerability; (3) Energy efficiency in relation to everyday life and practices of energy consumption and production; (4) Framing, defining and measuring energy efficiency; (5) Governance, policy and political issues around energy efficiency; (6) Roles of economic systems, supply chains and financial mechanisms in improving energy efficiency; and (7) The interactions, unintended consequences and rebound effects of energy efficiency interventions. Given the consistent centrality of energy efficiency in policy programmes, this paper highlights that well-developed SSH approaches are ready to be mobilised to contribute to the development, and/or to understand the implications, of energy efficiency measures and governance solutions. Implicitly, it also emphasises the heterogeneity of SSH policy evidence that can be produced. The agenda will be of use for both (1) those new to the energy-SSH field (including policyworkers), for learnings on the capabilities and capacities of energy-SSH, and (2) established energy-SSH researchers, for insights on the collectively held futures of energy-SSH research.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133120316&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1057/s41599-022-01243-z
DO - 10.1057/s41599-022-01243-z
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 35791377
AN - SCOPUS:85133120316
SN - 2662-9992
VL - 9
JO - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
JF - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 223
ER -