Ecological Modernisation and renewables

David Toke, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Policy, University of

Birmingham

Electricity regime – niche market?

Ecological modernisation

• Mainstream technology-market focus (Mol, Huber, Janicke etc)

• Critical social movement deliberative focus (Hajer, Christoff)

social movement activity in Renewable Energy

• Idealism as an initial substitute for economic rationality (bridge to EM)

• Cosmology, technology, organisation (Jamison)

Cosmology

German Biogas Association http://www.biogas.org/

Danish ‘bricolage’ (Karnoe)

• Energy crisis, anti-nuclear ideals

• Danish rural co-op tradition

• Sharing knowledge for common good

Marine Current Turbines

Intermediate technology (Schumacher)

Power from below

• ‘co-evolution’ of technology (Geels 2004)

• Uses as renewable energy producers

Pelamis Wave Powerhttp://www.pelamiswave.com/galleryimages.php

Explanations for outcomes

Ross (1997)

Watt (1998)

Winskel (2007)

Conventional industry

• Industrial based design

• Maximised economic return

• Patent based knowledge protection

1990 German Solar p.v.

1975 Danish Wind power

2008 UK Wave power

2008 UK Tidal stream power

Physical terrain Land Land sea sea

Degree of popular access for deployment

Very high Moderate/high Negligible Negligible

Status of existing model

Existing prototype

Existing prototype

No pre-existing model

Partially pre-existing model

Social/political landscape

High support High support High support High support

Electricity industry support

Low support Low support Recent moderate support

(formerly low support)

Recent moderate support

(formerly low support)

Technological frame

High science Popular/craft High science initially Intermediate Technology

Implications for policy

• R&D support for in-situ machines

• Regime access with initial generous support

• Start small, evolve bigger (Schumpeter)

• ‘Bottom up’/non-regime actors are very important

Implications for theory

• EM involves social movements in developing technology (van der Poel)

• Idealism as a institution

• Importance of users as generators

• EM has stages of development

Renewable as mainstream

• ‘We need to bring about a revolution in the way energy is produced …..Imagine you are pin-striped revolutionaries in the spirit of Che Guevara on the Sierra Madre’

• Mike O’Brien, Minister for Energy 29/03/09