Daniel Spreng

Direct and indirect energy requirements of households in India

Abstract This study is based on the 115 sector classification input–output tables for India for the years 1983–84, 1989–90 and 1993–94. Calculated total primary energy intensities along with private final consumption expenditures are used as a basis for determining the indirect energy requirements of Indian households. Results reveal that total household energy consumption is about evenly divided between direct and indirect energy and together comprises 75% of the total energy consumption of India. Most of household energy consumed directly is still non-commercial and the consumption of food is responsible for about half the indirect energy consumption. Household energy requirements have increased significantly, both in total and per capita terms over this time period. The commercial component of direct household energy consumption and the indirect energy requirements have increased continuously. The main drivers of this increase have been (1) the growing expenditures per capita, (2) population and (3) increasing energy intensity in the food and agricultural sectors.

Possibilities for substitution between energy, time and information

Abstract In this paper, possibilities for substitution between energy, time and information are discussed touching on aspects of physics, engineering and economics. The three substitutional pairs, energy-time, energy-information and time-information, are examined in turn; the use of the three quantities, in cumulative form, as factors of production for any economic activity is considered; and a new measure for the information, accumulated in a good or service, is suggested. The examination of the influence of new information technology (NIT) on energy demand shows that NIT is used — and could be used much more — to conserve energy, that NIT serves, however, more often to speed up processes rather than to make them more energy efficient.

Technology assessment: Impact of high-tech engineering research on energy consumption

Abstract A technology assessment (TA) program was launched in Switzerland in 1991. One project in the series of pilot projects was meant to assess the impact of so-called LESIT technologies on energy consumption. (LESIT was a priority research program and a German acronym for power electronics, systems and information technology.) In this paper the institutional environment, applied methods and main results of the TA study are summarised. One of the questions that arose was whether it is reasonable to expect a high-tech engineering research program to serve any societal goals other than the more immediate technical and economic goals the research partners in university and industry are accustomed to follow. It was found that without special efforts this expectation was not realistic. Politically desirable goals are best served when enough emphasis, time, and money are given to the process of bringing together research partners from academia and industry who all have a (self-serving) interest in furthering the politically desirable goal and then support their collaboration.

The Indispensable Role of Social Science in Energy Research

Limiting the role of social science in energy research to its traditional instrumentalised functions of acceptance research and market introduction is problematic for research and policy and inadequate to the contemporary energy-related – and fundamentally socioscientific – challenges described in Chapter 2. Social science can facilitate societal learning processes involved in the co-evolution of technology and a liberal society. Energy research in the social sciences serves the core functions of generating reflection and target knowledge, analysis, and transformation knowledge. In addition, sustainable technology development calls for equal footing for the social sciences and engineering. Finally, the management and integration of knowledge related to energy requires multi- and transdisciplinary frameworks.

All hands on deck: polycentric governance for climate change insurance

In this essay, we argue that it is possible to significantly complement and improve our collective response to climate change by harnessing the combined capacities of key actors across the public and private sector. We apply the concepts of liability, market mechanisms, preferential market access, and polycentric governance toward a new type of climate change insurance for CO2. The quest to apply insurance principles to climate change dates back multiple decades. But ideas for employing the industry’s ability to help avoid or minimize and, if necessary, compensate for uncertain costs in the future at scale, across national boundaries, and as part of a broader regime, seem to be lacking. We propose an approach that complements and combines ongoing efforts within a polycentric governance structure to reduce CO2 emissions, increase resilience to and compensate damages from climate change on a global scale.

The Interdependency of Energy, Information, and Growth

This contribution is based on the talk I gave at the conference on ICT for Sustainability, February 14–16, ETH Zurich [1], in which I reopened the discussion on the impact of ICT on energy consumption [2]. The chapter has four sections. The introduction connects my topic to the conference theme. In part two, I discuss energy conservation; the mutual substitutability of energy, time and information; and some fundamental aspects of the nature of these three quantities. In the third part I present two empirical case studies of this mutual substitutability. Finally, in the fourth section, I conclude by speculating on what these results may mean in term of ICT’s effects on sustainability, mindful of the role of time and of economic growth in this interaction.

Towards an Integrative Framework for Energy Transitions of Households in Developing Countries

Bringing about a transition to more efficient, affordable and sustainable energy sources, carriers and technologies for all of humanity is one of the key challenges of the 21st century. Addressing this challenge effectively requires a complex linkage between multiple perspectives to be assessed within a transdisciplinary framework. Even today, however, there is scant communication across disciplines and among the various actors affecting and affected by such transitions. This section highlights the diverse approaches of past programmes and policies aimed at facilitating energy transitions and discusses some of the key issues associated with their successes and failures. It concludes with some thoughts on how such programmes and policies can be improved in the future by thinking in terms of processes rather than disciplines and taking into account multiple perspectives and the interdependencies between systems, as well as several important ethical dimensions.

On the Entropy of Economic Systems

This is a qualitative discussion on how the concept of entropy relates to human affairs, in particular to economic processes and systems. The starting point of the discussion is Georgescu-Roegen’s book “The entropy law and the economic process” [1]. Although published a year earlier, Georgescu-Roegen’s book has survived “The Limits to Growth” [2] as a neo-Malthusian argument in the great debate over our future: growth vs. no-growth, high technology vs. appropriate or intermediate technology, centralized vs. decentralized society.

Synthesis: Research Perspectives

This synthesis chapter of Part II characterises the various research perspectives represented in the studies in Chapters 5–11 and arranges them in a graphical adaptation of the transdisciplinary framework first introduced in Chapter 3. The studies occupy various positions and ranges along the axes of the perspectives cube depending on the number of disciplines involved, the type and scope of participating actors and the nature of the research question. Energy policy implications of multiple disciplinary perspectives are suggested.

Computers as energy consumers

Abstract The number of computers in operation is growing rapidly. At the same time, newer models become more and more energy-efficient. Against the background of these two developments, this paper examines the power consumption of computers and other electronic equipment. Preliminary estimates indicate that in 1988, in Switzerland, electronic equipment consumed about 4% of the total electricity demand. In the future, a considerable rise of this fraction may be expected.