Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy: Theory and Practice from Local, Regional and Macro Perspectives

This book addresses the problem of how to make a large-scale socio-technical transition to renewable energy, so as to realize an environmentally sustainable economy in the long run. Transition thinking has in a short time managed to occupy a central position in the policy debate on sustainable development. The transition approach offers an innovative view on the role and content of public policy, compared with traditional views from economic, administrative and political sciences. The main motivation for using this notion is that while it links up with the system-wide approach of sustainable development, it has the advantage of shifting the attention from a vague end goal (blueprint) to the processes leading towards this goal. These processes in turn provide a concrete basis for thinking about appropriate public policies, taking account of the complex relations between technologies, institutions and behaviours. This book offers perspectives from a wide range of disciplines, addressing macro, regional and local scales. Contributions come from mainstream economics, evolutionary economics, sociology, political sciences, innovation studies, spatial economics and decision theory. Important lessons are also drawn from historical transitions.Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy will appeal to academics and researchers in environmental science and economics, environmental and technological policy advisors, evolutionary economists and researchers on technological innovation.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface 1. The Transition to Renewable Energy: Background and Summary Jeroen van den Bergh and Frank Bruinsma PART I: SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL THEORY 2. Transition Management: Reflexive Governance of Societal Complexity through Searching, Learning and Experimenting Jan Rotmans and Derk Loorbach 3. The Multilevel Perspective and Design of System Innovations John Grin 4. Transition Lessons from Economics Jeroen van den Bergh and René Kemp 5. Innovation Theory and Socio-technical Transitions Frans Berkhout 6. An Evolutionary-Economic Analysis of Energy Transitions Jeroen van den Bergh and Frans Oosterhuis PART II: MACRO PRACTICE 7. Barriers and Options for Future Energy Transitions: Lessons from a Historical Analysis of the Dutch Electricity System Geert Verbong and Frank Geels 8. Energy Transition Experiments in the Netherlands Frank Dietz, Hugo Brouwer and Rob Weterings 9. Transition Management for the Dutch Energy Transition: Multilevel Governance Aspects Derk Loorbach and René Kemp 10. An Evolutionary-Economic Evaluation of Barriers and Opportunities in Dutch Energy Innovation Policies Annemarth Idenburg and Albert Faber PART III: LOCAL AND REGIONAL PRACTICE 11. Renewable Energy Sources Planning and Design: A Multi-criteria Approach Heracles Polatidis and Dias Haralambopoulos 12. Regional Diversity of Wind Energy Initiatives: The Dutch Experience Frank Bruinsma and Ron Vreeker 13. Tackling Local Conflicts Caused by Renewable Energy Sources: Lessons Learned from Real-World Case Studies Gonzalo Gamboa, Giuseppe Munda and Daniela Russi Index

About the Author :
Edited by Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh, ICREA Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain and Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Frank R. Bruinsma, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Review :
'. . . this title surely adds value to the existing knowledge and is essential reading for anyone interested in the transition to a low-carbon energy economy. This book will surely provide an impetus to further transition studies and help stimulate further research in this area.' '. . . the book provides an excellent introduction to transition thinking and practice, and so should be read by anyone who is interested in these ideas and their application to a transition to more sustainable energy systems.'