Suchergebnisse

In recent years, renewable energy technologies (RETs) have been increasingly recognised among a range of solutions for addressing climate change and reducing reliance on fossil fuels. However, their implementation in the UK has been slower than expected, creating a gap between the potential of these technologies and their actual deployment. Acknowledging the importance of users in the diffusion of RETs, this thesis examines how these users are conceptualised during RET implementation and use. Using theoretical perspectives from science and technology studies, it analyses the configuration of users during the design and implementation of photovoltaic systems, taking as an example two case studies that took place as part of the UK government's Photovoltaic Domestic Field Trial. The study investigates the multiplicity of actors involved in the installation projects and demonstrates the negotiated nature of photovoltaic system design. During this process, the actors - the managers of the installation projects - constructed user identities based on the users' perceived expectations, preferences, behaviour and knowledge. These identities were materialised into the design of the system, thus creating a script that shaped the use of the technology. The study explored how the photovoltaics were appropriated within the home, highlighting the different modes of use and types of users in relation to the technology. In doing so, the thesis presents how the project managers 'write' the technology, and how the technology is in turn 'read' by the users. This perspective can be helpful in understanding the deployment of RETs, as it stresses their socially shaped nature. It shows how the design of the photovoltaic system was the result of a negotiated process of managers' knowledge and expectations regarding the users, the users' methods of appropriation, and the sociotechnical systems within which they operate. It also argues for the importance of situating the use of photovoltaics. and other related RETs in the domestic sector, within the wider sociotechnical landscape governing household energy consumption.

In this paper, using Lebanon's capital, Beirut, as a case study, a methodology is proposed to assess the potential for solar photovoltaics (PV) in urban areas incorporating both economic and non-economic factors. Utilizing a rich spatial dataset of solar irradiation augmented with electricity bills at the building level, the cost and benefit of installing rooftop PV systems for each building is estimated. Additionally, incentives and barriers for adopting those systems are investigated using a probabilistic choice model. The results show that Beirut city has a potential for distributed rooftop solar PV to be between 195 and 295 MWp. However, adoption rates are low at 0.49% and 1.23% for residential and commercial buildings, respectively, reflecting the limitation of financial incentives alone to promote the deployment of distributed renewable energy systems in transition economies. The impact of different incentive policy instruments and the role of solar PV in today's economic crisis in Lebanon is analyzed. The biggest impact was achieved through removing (or lowering) electricity tariff subsidy, although this option remains highly constrained by political calculus. We argue that the Lebanese government should fast-track and implement the required legal framework to facilitate and incentivize distributed power generation from renewable sources to promote both green energy and its financial resilience. The proposed modeling framework together with the results obtained in this study will have important implications for energy policy makers in Lebanon and other transition economies.

"Governments, big business and communities are coming under increased pressure to develop low carbon energy supply technologies. Within the context of the climate change debate a delicate balance has to be reached between local environmental protection and our need for reliable low carbon energy. This books brings together ten years of research conducted by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and uses a range of case studies from carbon capture and storage to on-shore wind farms to explore the complex nature of disputes between a wide variety of stakeholder groups. Topics covered include: the importance of context, the relationship between risk and trust, sense of place, role of the media. An invaluable resource for researchers and readers in local or national government, industry or community groups who wish to deepen their understanding of controversy around low carbon technology and how to overcome it"--