European island imaginaries: Examining the actors, innovations, and renewable energy transitions of 8 islands

Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Throndsen, William

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2020.101491

Cited by 45 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Users form reasons for wishing to engage in DSM that speak to their situated experiences and go beyond adequate compensation for contributing to an initiative that they understand and approve of. Users' direct experiences of energy issues in diverse contexts can generate what Skjølsvold et al [108] refer to as a 'grid sensitivity'. Based on their experiences of a weak grid connection to the mainland, island inhabitants may be motivated by energy security concerns more than by climate change and sustainability, for example.…”

Section: From Trust To Governance and Ownership: A Stake In The Energy Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social license to automate: A critical review of emerging approaches to electricity demand management

Adams

Kuch

Diamond

et al. 2021

Energy Research & Social Science

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Electricity demand-side management (DSM) programs are becoming increasingly important to energy system managers in advanced industrialized countries, especially those with high renewable energy penetration. As energy user participation is paramount for their success but has proven to be difficult to obtain, we explore the usefulness of the 'social license' concept, originally developed in the mining sector, to refer to the process of creating acceptance in DSM programs aimed at managing or controlling household energy resources such EVs, batteries, and heating and cooling devices. We argue that analyzing the attainment or lack of 'social license' may be useful to energy policy-makers and researchers for understanding public concerns with not only supply-side energy resources, but also DSM. We do so by (1) drawing attention to potential frictions between demands for flexibility on the one hand and social practices and habits on the other; (2) attending to the ways that users'

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Section: From Trust To Governance and Ownership: A Stake In The Energy Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social license to automate: A critical review of emerging approaches to electricity demand management

Adams

Kuch

Diamond

et al. 2021

Energy Research & Social Science

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“…In the reviewed literature, 2 imagination and materiality of islands is either separated into two reflective strands of research, or these properties are analyzed in tandem. Overall, 'island imaginaries' is either a generic and unspecified phrase, or it depicts a repository for mainland and/or colonizers' geographical imaginaries that are mapped onto islands to foster a (touristic) paradise, peripheral shelter, trading post, or ideal test site for technologies (Grove, 1996;Sheller, 2007, p. 27;Hong, 2020;Skjølsvold et al, 2020). As anthropologist Burkhard Schnepel (2018) states, island imaginaries display a Western framing in five forms: as isolated, virgin 'no-man's land,' diverse and créole, liminal, and geographically finite (pp.…”

Section: Island Imaginariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, island imaginaries are not mere imaginaries, as both termsisland and imaginariesreflect this mutuality. This is significant to work in STS, as islands and island imaginaries are foundational to (Western) technoscientific knowledge regimes, while scientific and technological systems in turn render islands exceptional places (Ronström, 2012), synecdoches that are scalable to larger wholes (Baldacchino and Tsai, 2014, p. 15;Skjølsvold et al, 2020;Webb, 2021) or similar to other places, i.e. to coasts.…”

Section: Conceptualizing Island Imaginariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Island Imaginaries: Introduction to a Special Section

Gugganig

Klimburg-Witjes

2021

Science as Culture

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Colonial empires, scientists, philanthropists and Hollywood studios have long sustained an image of islands as remote places with unique ecologies and cultures, experimental labs, or loci of escapism. The climate crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic have contributed to a predominant view of islands as both exceptional spaces and testbeds to be scaled up onto continental or planetary levels. Likewise, the metaphor of the island is foundational to Western thought yet has been less explored in the context of scientific processes and technology development. Bringing together science and technology studies (STS) with critical Island Studies and related fields, this special section expands upon the spatial dimension of sociotechnical imaginaries to consider islands and their imaginations as both preexisting and channeling visions of science and technology. The introduced concept of Island Imaginaries captures the mutual constitution of island visions and their materialization in scientific, technological and technocratic endeavors that are imagined and pursued by scientific communities, policymakers, and other social collectives. Such an approach explores the co-constitutive dynamic of islands as sites for the foundation of technoscientific knowledge regimes, and the concomitant rendering of islands as conducive places for discovery and experimentation. The special section offers empirical case studies with insights into islands as synecdoche for larger wholes (the Earth), as experimental and exceptional sites for trialing business creation and political orders (in Singapore, and for Asia), and as variously interpreted laboratory paradise (of Hawai'i). Further research themes for STS are suggested in the Conclusion.

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“…The geographic characteristics of islands and the challenges related to the provision of electricity services from the mainland [12] make them ideal candidates for deployment from a technical point of view. Another reason is the perceived stronger sense of community among smaller populations on islands compared to mainland communities and neighbourhoods [11,13], suggesting that the typical social barriers attributed to reluctance of DR uptake will be weaker in the case of islands. This posits the question of whether island communities are more likely to adopt these technologies and adapt their lifestyles to provide flexibility through DR and SG technologies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Transition to Clean Energy: Are People Living in Island Communities Ready for Smart Grids and Demand Response?

Ghanem

Crosbie

2021

Energies

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Islands are widely recognised as ideal pilot sites that can spearhead the transition to clean energy and development towards a sustainable and healthy society. One of the assumptions underpinning this notion is that island communities are more ready to engage with smart grids (SGs) than people on the mainland. This is believed to be due to the high costs of energy on islands and the idea that the sense of community and collective action is stronger on islands than on the mainland. This paper presents findings from a survey conducted to assess people’s perception of, and readiness to engage with, SG and demand response (DR) in the communities of three islands taking part in a H2020 project called REACT. The main objective of the survey, conducted in 2020, was to inform the recruitment of participants in the project, which is piloting different technologies required for SGs and DR with communities on the three islands. The results show that many island residents are motivated to take part in SG, to engage with energy saving, and are willing to change some energy-related behaviours in their homes. However, the results also indicate that levels of ownership of, and knowledge and familiarity with, the SG and DR related technologies are extremely low, suggesting that the expected uptake of DR in islands might not be as high as anticipated. This brings into question the readiness of island dwellers for the SG, their role in the deployment of such schemes more widely and the validity of the assumptions often made about island communities. This has significant implications for the design of SGs and DR solutions for islands, including devoting sufficient efforts to build knowledge and awareness of the SG, investing in demonstration projects for that purpose and tailoring interventions based on island communities’ motivations.

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European island imaginaries: Examining the actors, innovations, and renewable energy transitions of 8 islands

Cited by 45 publications

References 29 publications

Social license to automate: A critical review of emerging approaches to electricity demand management

Social license to automate: A critical review of emerging approaches to electricity demand management

Island Imaginaries: Introduction to a Special Section

The Transition to Clean Energy: Are People Living in Island Communities Ready for Smart Grids and Demand Response?

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