Soft Energy Technologies

Deconstructing facts and frames in energy research: Maxims for evaluating contentious problems

“…(Strauss et al, 2013) Physicist Amory Lovins concluded much the same thing when he wrote that "underlying much of the energy debate is a tacit, implicit divergence on what the energy problem 'really' is. Public discourse suffers because our society has mechanisms only for resolving conflicting interests, not conflicting views of reality" (Lovins, 1978).…”

Shades of green: Centralisation, decentralisation and controversy among European renewable electricity visions

“…Lovins, for example, distinguishes between Hard and Soft energy paths and characterises the essence of energy politics as a choice between these [44,45]. The Hard path focuses on ways to supply more energy to satisfy a growing demand in a centralised system based on technological progress.…”

“…The Soft path, in contrast, emphasises demand-constraint combined with decentralisation of energy governance and puts energy generation directly under citizen ownership or control. These Paths are not mainly distinguished "by choices of hardware" but "by the socio-political structure of the energy system"; hence, they are technically compatible but "mutually exclusive" because of diverging governance requirements and aims [44].…”

Slow Money for Soft Energy: Lessons for Energy Finance from the Slow Money Movement

“…A ''SOFTER'' ALTERNATIVE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY Lovins (1978) proposed ''hard'' and ''soft'' paths for energy. ''Hard'' paths are characterized by centralization, fossil-fuel dependency, economies of scale, and an assumption that demand is an inexorably growing force.…”

“…We need to revive a different approach to clean energy infrastructure: a ''softer'' (Lovins 1978), more distributed, decentralized, local-scale strategy. To achieve this, we need a fundamentally different approach to the financing of clean energy infrastructure.…”