Harald Rohracher

Managing the Technological Transition to Sustainable Construction of Buildings: A Socio-Technical Perspective

The construction of buildings brings about a substantial ecological load: about 40% of energy consumption and about 25% of material moved by our economy is due to the construction of buildings. New construction technologies and new building components would allow us to reduce the ecological load of buildings to a fraction of its present value. However, the problem of making our building stock more sustainable is only to a minor extent a technical one. The required change of technologies can only be managed by simultaneously taking into account technical potentials and their social context. Social studies of technology, with their focus on the construction of technologies as an interactive effort of various actors and on the inseparability of the social and technical side of sociotechnical systems provide a perspective to better understand the processes involved in the construction and dissemination of sustainable buildings. A number of strategies to manage technical change towards sustainability will be discussed: better integration of various actors at the supply side, shift to a market for innovative and ecological building services, improvement of user-producer relationships and integration of consumers into the innovation process.

Local Demonstrations for Global Transitions—Dynamics across Governance Levels Fostering Socio-Technical Regime Change Towards Sustainability

Which role do spatial dimensions play in the transformation of socio-technical regimes, in particular the energy system, towards more sustainable configurations? Concepts such as the multi-level perspective on socio-technical change have not given sufficient attention to space and place so far. We develop our considerations around the case of an “Energy Region” in Austria where people try to bring about a substantive shift in their “local” energy supply structure and have the ambition to contribute to a “general” transition towards sustainable energy systems. However, if this ambition is to stand the test of reality, what are the mechanisms and processes through which regional governance can have a broader impact on the transition of the energy system? What are the resources it can draw upon? What are the linkages with other governance levels? We investigate in detail how one regional showcase for the feasibility of a non-fossil, sustainable energy system was set up in Murau, a remote, alpine district of Austria. Starting from the multi-level framework for the modelling of niche-regime interaction, we put particular emphasis on the formation of discourse coalitions and dynamics of multi-level governance. Our findings support the view to pay considerably more attention to the interplay of local and non-local discourses and the dynamic relations between local initiatives and non-local networks which can provide specific opportunities for the legitimization and entrenchment of alternative socio-technical configurations.

The Interplay of Urban Energy Policy and Socio-technical Transitions: The Eco-cities of Graz and Freiburg in Retrospect

The cities of Graz in Austria and Freiburg in Germany have been perceived as ecological model cities since the late 1980s.This is shown by various international awards, press coverage and many visitors from other municipal administrations. Both cities have been well known for their attempts to bring about transitions towards more sustainable and low-carbon energy systems. The comparison of Graz and Freiburg over a period of two decades enables us to study how differing contexts, actor constellations and historic developments shape the transformation of energy systems towards greater sustainability. It is argued that understanding the role of cities for energy transitions requires a detailed examination of the coupled dynamics of socio-technical interactions across the levels of niches, regimes and landscapes on the one hand, and multilevel systems of governance on the other. At these intersections new, although spatially confined, socio-technical constellations of sustainable energy provision may emerge and be stabilised. Nevertheless, empirical evidence shows that it is misleading to conclude that true socio-technical transitions are taking place in these cities, even though a number of foundations for long-term change processes have been laid.

Energy systems in transition: contributions from social sciences

The aim of this paper is to discuss the potential role of social sciences - especially social studies of technology and innovation studies - for our understanding of energy provision and consumption. Energy systems are best understood as socio-technical arrangements with a strong interrelation of technological and social elements such as institutions, regulations, cultural values, social practices as well as interests, expectations and relationships of the actors involved. Such a perspective also gives us a better grasp of the ongoing dynamics of energy system transformation and stimulates new approaches to the governance of transition processes towards sustainability. Contributions of social sciences can support the understanding and shaping of energy transitions in an analytic, projective and reflexive dimension.

Intermediaries and the Governance of Choice: The Case of Green Electricity Labelling

This paper is about the reframing of electricity markets as a strategically oriented nonstate governance activity of intermediary organisations. In particular, it is centred on the establishment of ‘green’ electricity labels by environmental and other nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) as an attempt to establish and shape a market for green electricity. Such labels serve as a ‘boundary object’ between electricity generators, suppliers, consumers, and regulators, and are analysed as the creation of new sociotechnical arrangements around green electricity generation and use. The analysis also shows that private governance initiatives of this kind are highly interdependent with state regulatory systems. NGOs have played a vital role in defining and negotiating such standards, enrolling and aligning supply-side and demand-side actors, communicating with a wider public and building trust for the respective products, establishing links with regulators, and shaping policies for renewable electricity at national and European levels. The cases of electricity labelling investigated are an example of new political strategies of civil society intermediary organisations in an increasingly market-driven environment.

Transforming the Energy System: The Role of Institutions, Interests and Ideas

This article was downloaded by: [Harvard Business School]On: 16 July 2010Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 918548518]Publisher RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Biofuels and their publics : the need for differentiated analyses and strategies

3 10.4155/BFS.09.7

Sustainability as a matter of social context: information technologies and the environment

The paper focuses on the potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to improve the sustainability of residential buildings. While ICT can contribute to improving building energy efficiency (e.g., energy management systems) there are also plausible scenarios of an increasing energy demand triggered by ICT use. The main argument of this paper is that harnessing the sustainability potentials of ICT in buildings is largely a matter of social and institutional embedding and is not determined by the characteristics of this technology. The paper argues that the strategic management of technological change towards sustainability means providing sufficient scope for a co-evolution of configurations of technology, services and patterns of usage by allowing users and designers to interact at the early stage of product development. Examples for the organisation of such a process are drawn from a research project in Austria.

Introduction: Technology Studies and Sustainable Development

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Nutzerinnovation und Nachhaltigkeit: Soziale und technische Innovationen als zivilgesellschaftliches Engagement

Das Telefon, der Personalcomputer, danische Windrader – diese drei Technologien haben eines gemeinsam: sie sind weltweit erfolgreich. Und es gibt noch eine weitere – vielleicht etwas uberraschende – Gemeinsamkeit. In allen drei Fallen lieferten Nutzer/-innen in fruhen Entwicklungsphasen wertvolle Impulse, ja zum Teil lag die technische Entwicklung fast zur Ganze in der Hand von Nutzer/-innen. Auch in jungster Zeit fliegen die Erwartungen an den Beitrag von Nutzer/-innen zu neuen Produkten und Technologien hoch. Vor allem der Einfluss von Informationsund Kommunikationstechnologien und des Internet eroffnen hier neue Moglichkeiten: Open Source Software ermoglicht die Verteilung von Entwicklungsleistungen fur neue Programme auf eine Vielzahl von Beteiligten, die meist auch selbst ein Nutzungsinteresse an diesen Produkten haben; entsprechende Software-Tools und Plattformen ermoglichen die Entwicklung neuer Computerspiele und anderer Produkte durch User-Communities; und auch der Trend bzw. die technischen Moglichkeiten fur ‚mass customization‘ machen Nutzer/-innen in gewissem Sinn zu Mitproduzent/-innen ihrer masgefertigten Endprodukte. Eric von Hippel (2005) geht in seinem vor einigen Jahren erschienen Buch sogar so weit, dass er von einer „Demokratisierung des Innovationsprozesses“ spricht. Schone neue Nutzer-Welt?