Priska Gisler

Barriers and opportunities in realising sustainable energy concepts—an analysis of two Swiss case studies

Abstract What assists and what hinders sustainable energy use in being put into effect? Two case studies of sustainable energy concepts—the Zurich Solarstromborse , where electricity can be purchased that is produced by solar panels, and the Swiss CO 2 -law , a consensus oriented implementation of the Kyoto-protocol—were analysed in order to investigate this question. In both case studies the unfolding of the sustainable energy concepts is reconstructed as a process starting with an abstract idea moving to a concrete realisation. This process passes through a series of different social worlds and is, in turn, affected by them. These social worlds are e.g. those of the concerned scientists, the professional investors, energy suppliers or governmental agencies. The case studies reveal three neuralgic challenges that have to be met when a concept advances from idea to realisation through the social worlds: Firstly, the translation between social worlds changes the content of the idea. Secondly, the way each social world looks at things (socially) constructs best solutions to problems and hides others. Thirdly, the actual dynamics of the social world within which it is finally implemented must be adopted by the idea. In order to integrate these neuralgic points, scientists as well as other inventors have to retain responsibility for their sustainable energy ideas and are requested to follow them through the social worlds in order to critically survey and eventually influence their “content in flux”.

Collecting true blue blood: a journey to the heart of 1960s biology.

Mabel Boyden was a biologist, active in the field of immunochemical research and also a custodian of the Serological Museum at Rutgers University between 1948 and 1974. Her recollection of a trip to obtain the blood of the horseshoe crab is revealing: it contains figures of speech that give a glimpse into the immunological discourse of the mid-1960s; it shows how her thinking was torn between different ways of doing biology; and it offers an insight into the transition of biology into the modern, molecular era.

Setting the Stage: Reading Law and Culture

In November 2009, an initiative calling for a ban on minarets in Switzerland was put to the popular vote and passed by a small but clear margin: ultimately, the vote resulted in a moratorium from that time forth on the construction of minarets on Swiss ground. During the months both before and after the vote, debates about the significance of this initiative dominated discussion in Switzerland and quickly spread to much of the Western and Islamic worlds. Questions about the ban far outnumbered any ready answers. Did the ban constitute a threat to religious freedom? If so, what did it mean for Switzerland to curtail the religious practices of a well-integrated minority? Was the ban an infringement on international law, which forms an inalienable part of the constitution, and hence invalid? How would the Muslim population within and outside of Switzerland react? The posters that appeared on roadside billboards, with their images of minarets rising like rockets out of the Swiss flag next to a black-clad figure in a niqab, proved especially provocative and understandably troublesome to many. Were the posters racist? Sexist? Feminist? Swiss federal councillors appeared flustered in press conferences that were called to assure the world that the Muslim population in Switzerland was well-liked and well-integrated, and meetings in Brussels with European officials were urgently convened to determine the legality of the initiative.