http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/biodiversity/sahyadri_enews/newsletter/issue45/bibliography/Social%20acceptance%20of%20renewable%20energy%20innovation%20an%20introduction%20to%20the.pdf

Social acceptance of renewable energy innovation: An introduction to the concept

http://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/JDEnPolicyPt1.pdf

Providing all global energy with wind, water, and solar power, Part I: Technologies, energy resources, quantities and areas of infrastructure, and materials

Barriers to widespread adoption of electric vehicles: An analysis of consumer attitudes and perceptions

We examine who the winners are in science problem-solving contests characterized by open broadcast of problem information, self-selection of external solvers to discrete problems from the laboratories of large research and development intensive companies, and blind review of solution submissions. Analyzing a unique data set of 166 science challenges involving over 12,000 scientists revealed that technical and social marginality, being a source of different perspectives and heuristics, plays an important role in explaining individual success in problem solving. The provision of a winning solution was positively related to increasing distance between the solver's field of technical expertise and the focal field of the problem. Female solvers---known to be in the “outer circle” of the scientific establishment---performed significantly better than men in developing successful solutions. Our findings contribute to the emerging literature on open and distributed innovation by demonstrating the value of openness, at least narrowly defined by disclosing problems, in removing barriers to entry to nonobvious individuals. We also contribute to the knowledge-based theory of the firm by showing the effectiveness of a market mechanism to draw out knowledge from diverse external sources to solve internal problems.

http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/cs286r/courses/fall10/papers/JL09.pdf

Marginality and Problem-Solving Effectiveness in Broadcast Search

Social science related disciplines, methods, concepts, and topics remain underutilized, and perhaps underappreciated, in contemporary energy studies research. To make this case, the article offers both quantitative and qualitative data. It begins with the quantitative part, providing a content analysis of 4444 research articles involving 9549 authors and 90,079 references (from a smaller subsample) published in three leading energy journals from 1999 to 2013. Within this vast sample, only 19.6 percent of authors reported training in any social science discipline, and less than 0.3 percent of authors reported disciplinary affiliations in areas such as history, psychology, anthropology, and communication studies. Only 12.6 percent of articles utilized qualitative methods and less than 5 percent of citations were to social science and humanities journals. The article then shifts to the qualitative part, where it proposes a variety of methodological and topical areas, along with 75 research questions, that could deepen and broaden energy research, connected in part to all of the articles in this special (inaugural) issue of Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS). Readers from all disciplines are encouraged to read it—especially the parts dealing with areas and concepts outside of their own areas of expertise.

What are we doing here? Analyzing fifteen years of energy scholarship and proposing a social science research agenda

Beyond batteries: an examination of the benefits and barriers to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) transition

The field of science and technology studies (STS) has introduced and developed a “sociotechnical” perspective that has been taken up by many disciplines and areas of inquiry The aims and objectives of this study are threefold: to interrogate which sociotechnical concepts or tools from STS are useful at better understanding energy-related social science, to reflect on prominent themes and topics within those approaches, and to identify current research gaps and directions for the future To do so, the study builds on a companion project, a systematic analysis of 262 articles published from 2009 to mid-2019 that categorized and reviewed sociotechnical perspectives in energy social science It identifies future research directions by employing the method of “co-creation” based on the reflections of sixteen prominent researchers in the field in late 2019 and early 2020 Drawing from this co-created synthesis, this study first identifies three main areas of sociotechnical perspectives in energy research (sociotechnical systems, policy, and expertise and publics) with 15 topics and 39 subareas The study then identifies five main themes for the future development of sociotechnical perspectives in energy research: conditions of systematic change; embedded agency; justice, power, identity and politics; imaginaries and discourses; and public engagement and governance It also points to the recognized need for pluralism and parallax: for research to show greater attention to demographic and geographical diversity; to stronger research designs; to greater theoretical triangulation; and to more transdisciplinary approaches

Sociotechnical agendas : Reviewing future directions for energy and climate research

Preface Acknowledgment of financial support Introduction Part I. Progress and Culture: 1. Managerial and technological foundations 2. Establishment of a management culture 3. Manufacturers and technological progress before World War II 4. Postwar strategies of utilities and manufacturers 5. Utilities' role in technological progress 6. The mid-1960s: at the pinnacle of success Part II. Stasis: 7. Technical limits to progress in the 1960s and 1970s 8. Design deficiencies and faulty technology 9. Maelstroms and management malaise 10. Criticisms of utility research and development 11. The mid-1970s: near the bottom Part III. Accommodating Stasis: 12. Understanding values: the basis for a new consensus 13. The search for new technology Part IV. Conclusion: 14. History and the management of technology Appendices Bibliographic note Notes Index.

Technology and transformation in the American electric utility industry

Technology and Transformation in the American Electric Utility Industry

Historical research can assist those analyzing contemporary energy systems or designing energy policies. While history does not directly repeat itself or offer powers of prediction, studies of the past can draw attention to frequently overlooked features of energy systems. Through a series of case studies, this article highlights historians’ efforts to identify the essential role of social and cultural considerations in shaping the successes and failures of energy regimes. In particular, energy researchers and policy makers can learn much from historians about the links between energy, culture, and society; the role of often-invisible infrastructures in limiting useful discussions about energy systems; and the need to reevaluate the traditional notion of energy transitions.

Richard F. Hirsh

Papers

Beyond batteries: an examination of the benefits and barriers to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) transition

Sociotechnical agendas : Reviewing future directions for energy and climate research

Technology and transformation in the American electric utility industry

Technology and Transformation in the American Electric Utility Industry

History's contributions to energy research and policy