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This thesis addresses through six essays questions from a managerial and policy perspective in the context of the transition of the German energy sector toward a broader use of renewable energy technologies ("Energiewende"). In addition, this thesis will also deal implicitly with questions of transdisciplinary research in the context of the "Energiewende". The different essays include a variety of methods, i.e., - literature-based meta-analysis, - theoretical analysis through microeconomic modeling, - the rationale of new institutional economics, and - the use of Monte Carlo simulation techniques to address the specific managerial question of risk management. Furthermore, two essays also include an additional feature by integrating insights from behavioral economics into the analytical framework of the respective essays. In detail, the first essay provides an overview on relevant actors in the German renewable energy sector and derives insights on the connection between actors, technology, and the organizational framework of business models through meta-analysis. The second essay complements this overview by conducting a theoretical analysis of renewable energy cooperatives with the help of the new institutional economics rationale. The third and fourth essays focus on tools for project assessment. Here, the third essay offers an approach for the optimization of the input of biogas plants by applying a nested constant elasticity of substitution production function approach. The fourth essay presents a developed tool for the risk analysis of renewable energy projects using Monte Carlo simulation. Here, the transdisciplinary aspect will be tackled because actors from nonacademia were involved in developing the tool. The particular characteristic of the fifth and sixth essays is that both focus particularly on insights from behavioral economics. While the fifth essay develops a toolset for energy and environmental policy through a meta-analysis of insights from cognitive sciences that goes beyond conventional policy instruments (e.g., monetary incentives and mandates), the sixth essay uses findings from behavioral sciences on so-called social preferences to conduct a theoretical, microeconomic analysis of the effects of different ownership options in the context of public private partnerships. In the end, this thesis reviews the findings and comes to the conclusion that a holistic analysis approach, as presented here, is of particular importance for the analysis and governance of the "Energiewende" as central aspects such as the involved actors, their determinants for decision-making, technical characteristics, frame-setting institutions, and the wider social context are in a vital interaction. ; Diese Dissertationsschrift untersucht verschiedene betriebswirtschaftliche sowie umwelt- und wirtschaftspolitische Fragestellungen im Kontext der Energiewende. Des Weiteren werden Themen wie Transdisziplinarität und die Gestaltung transdisziplinärer Forschungsansätze im Kontext der nachhaltigen Transformation des Energiesektors in Deutschland im Verlauf dieser Arbeit ergründet. Die Dissertationsschrift umfasst sechs verschiedene Aufsätze, deren Forschungsansätze sich jeweils in ihrer Methodik unterscheiden. Demnach beinhaltet diese Arbeit - literaturbasierte Meta-Analysen, - theoretische Untersuchungen mittels mikroökonomischer Modelle, - theoretische Auseinandersetzungen unter Rückgriff auf das Argumentationsgerüst der Neuen Institutionenökonomik sowie - die Anwendung von Monte Carlo-Simulationstechniken zur Entwicklung eines Instruments zur Risikoanalyse. Zudem setzen zwei Aufsätze den Gedanken der Transdisziplinarität um, indem Akteure aus der Praxis sowohl im Zuge der Entwicklung der Fragestellung als auch während der Problemlösung einbezogen werden. Im Detail vermittelt der erste Aufsatz einen Überblick über die zentralen Akteure bei der Finanzierung von erneuerbaren Energien in Deutschland und zeigt im Zuge der Analyse Zusammenhänge zwischen Akteursgruppen, zugrunde liegender Technologie und dem betrieblichen Organisationsmodell. Der zweite Aufsatz ergänzt den ersten Beitrag durch eine theoretische, institutionenökonomische Analyse zur Untersuchung von Energiegenossenschaften. Der dritte und vierte Aufsatz stellen entwickelte Instrumente zur Wirtschaftlichkeits- und Risikoanalyse von nachhaltigen Infrastrukturen zur Nutzung erneuerbarer Energiequellen. Hierbei beinhaltet der dritte Aufsatz ein Verfahren zur (Kosten-) Optimierung des Substrateinsatzes von Biogasanlagen mittels verschachtelter Produktions-funktionen. Im Rahmen des vierten Aufsatzes wird ein Instrument zur Risikoanalyse vorgestellt, das durch die Anwendung von Monte Carlo-Simulationstechniken die parallele Variation mehrerer Eingangsparameter ermöglicht. Neben den erläuterten methodischen und inhaltlichen Merkmalen wird im Rahmen der beiden soeben beschriebenen Aufsätze der Aspekt der Transdisziplinarität besonders hervorgehoben, indem Akteure aus der Praxis aktiv in den Forschungsprozess involviert wurden. Das besondere Charakteristikum des fünften und sechsten Aufsatzes ist der Bezug zur Verhaltensökonomik. Während der fünfte Beitrag einen Ansatz zur Erweiterung des etablierten umweltpolitischen Instrumentariums unter Verwendung von Erkenntnissen aus dem Bereich der Kognitionsforschung entwickelt, greift der sechste Essay auf Forschungsergebnisse zu sogenannten sozialen Präferenzen zurück und wendet diese auf die theoretische Auseinandersetzung zur Verteilung von Eigentumsrechten im Rahmen von öffentlich-privaten Partnerschaften an. Die Dissertationsschrift endet mit einer Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse und stellt nochmals heraus, das für die komplexen Problemstellungen im Rahmen der Ener-giewende ein holistischer Analyseansatz notwendig ist, um die verschiedenen Di-mensionen der relevanten Fragen zu adressieren.

The idea of nudging has become increasingly popular in both academic and political circles. There are, however, many different interpretations of the term 'nudge' which blurs its scope. In this paper, the authors focus on the conceptualization of nudges and its functionality in reference to the Dual Process models. Further, they discuss the potential applications of nudging as an important extension of the current policy toolkit. In particular, the authors assess the potential of nudges to support habit formation and enhance the performance of the 'classical' economic instruments when used in the so-called instrument mix.

Community-based energy systems are gaining traction among policymakers and practitioners as promising models for implementing a low-carbon energy transition. As a result, there has been a proliferation of concepts in the scientific literature, such as community energy, energy communities, community solar, and community wind. However, what scholars mean by "community" in these contexts is often unclear and inconsistent. This paper provides further conceptual clarity in the field by analyzing how the term of community is conceptualized in the scholarly literature on energy systems, through a systematic review of 405 articles. We combine an author keyword network analysis of this corpus with an in-depth analysis of 183 definitions extracted from these articles and systematically coded across three dimensions: meanings, activities and objectives of communities. Our findings show that the meanings attached to the notion of community and the alleged objectives pursued by communities vary substantially across concepts and over time. In particular, there has been a shift away from a notion of community understood as a process that emphasizes participatory aspects toward a notion of community primarily referring to a place. Furthermore, there is a growing focus on communities' economic objectives rather than their social or political goals. These findings suggest a weakening of scholars' attention to "transformative" notions of community emphasizing collective and grassroots processes of participation in energy transitions, to the benefit of "instrumental" notions. This trend runs the risk of placing the sole emphasis on the market value of communities, thereby diluting their distinctiveness from more commercial actors.

Community-based energy systems are gaining traction among policymakers and practitioners as promising models for implementing a low-carbon energy transition. As a result, there has been a proliferation of concepts in the scientific literature, such as community energy, energy communities, community solar, and community wind. However, what scholars mean by "community" in these contexts is often unclear and inconsistent. This paper provides further conceptual clarity in the field by analyzing how the term of community is conceptualized in the scholarly literature on energy systems, through a systematic review of 405 articles. We combine an author keyword network analysis of this corpus with an in-depth analysis of 183 definitions extracted from these articles and systematically coded across three dimensions: meanings, activities and objectives of communities. Our findings show that the meanings attached to the notion of community and the alleged objectives pursued by communities vary substantially across concepts and over time. In particular, there has been a shift away from a notion of community understood as a process that emphasizes participatory aspects toward a notion of community primarily referring to a place. Furthermore, there is a growing focus on communities' economic objectives rather than their social or political goals. These findings suggest a weakening of scholars' attention to "transformative" notions of community emphasizing collective and grassroots processes of participation in energy transitions, to the benefit of "instrumental" notions. This trend runs the risk of placing the sole emphasis on the market value of communities, thereby diluting their distinctiveness from more commercial actors.