Vertrauen, Risiko und komplexe Systeme: das Beispiel zukünftiger Energieversorgung

Büscher, Christian; Sumpf, Patrick

doi:10.1007/978-3-658-19509-0_7

“…However, residents' resistance and lack of willingness to participate in CES still constitute major challenges (Büscher & Sumpf, 2018;van Veelen & Haggett, 2016;Raven, Mourik, Feenstra, & Heiskanen, 2009). This is especially the case for district heating, as it requires a minimum number of consumers to operate profitably.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The IAFOR International Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment – Hawaii 2021 Official Conference Proceedings

2021

IICSEE Official Conference Proceedings

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Despite extensive political funding programs, the energy consumption in Germany for space heating and hot water stagnated on a high level of 870 TWh over the past few years and even exceeded the level of 2010. To reduce consumption and meeting the energy-efficiency goals set by the German federal government, an option for private homeowners is to participate in community energy systems (CES). However, homeowners' reluctance to join CES constitutes a major issue. Recent research has not provided deeper insights into reasons for this hesitation. Focusing primarily on local district heating systems, we use two theoretical approaches, motivation and attribution theory, to shed light on drivers and barriers in the decision-making process of homeowners. To gain insights, an explorative research design was chosen, and 22 problem-centered interviews were conducted with homeowners as well as experts.Our results show that subjectively perceived energy autonomy can be a barrier for private homeowners to participate in CES. Furthermore, we find a discrepancy between objective energy autonomy, as defined from a technical perspective, and homeowners' perception. Regarding this, the two major aspects shaping homeowners' perception of energy autonomy are (1) perceived independence from third parties as well as other external influences, and (2) a sense of control over the home energy system and its costs. Our study provides new insights into the decision-making process of homeowners to participate in CES. Additionally, we identified several implications in how far practitioners can address subjectively perceived energy autonomy issues to reduce inertia to join CES.

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“…However, residents' resistance and lack of willingness to participate in CES still constitute major challenges (Büscher & Sumpf, 2018;van Veelen & Haggett, 2016;Raven, Mourik, Feenstra, & Heiskanen, 2009). This is especially the case for district heating, as it requires a minimum number of consumers to operate profitably.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Striving for Energy Autonomy? An Empirical Investigation of Homeowners’ Drivers and Barriers to Participation in Community Energy Systems in Germany

Wesely¹,

Holzmüller²,

Thommessen³

et al. 2021

The IAFOR International Conference on Sustainability, Energy &Amp; The Environment – Hawaii 2021 Official Conference Proceeding

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Despite extensive political funding programs, the energy consumption in Germany for space heating and hot water stagnated on a high level of 870 TWh over the past few years and even exceeded the level of 2010. To reduce consumption and meeting the energy-efficiency goals set by the German federal government, an option for private homeowners is to participate in community energy systems (CES). However, homeowners' reluctance to join CES constitutes a major issue. Recent research has not provided deeper insights into reasons for this hesitation. Focusing primarily on local district heating systems, we use two theoretical approaches, motivation and attribution theory, to shed light on drivers and barriers in the decision-making process of homeowners. To gain insights, an explorative research design was chosen, and 22 problem-centered interviews were conducted with homeowners as well as experts.Our results show that subjectively perceived energy autonomy can be a barrier for private homeowners to participate in CES. Furthermore, we find a discrepancy between objective energy autonomy, as defined from a technical perspective, and homeowners' perception. Regarding this, the two major aspects shaping homeowners' perception of energy autonomy are (1) perceived independence from third parties as well as other external influences, and (2) a sense of control over the home energy system and its costs. Our study provides new insights into the decision-making process of homeowners to participate in CES. Additionally, we identified several implications in how far practitioners can address subjectively perceived energy autonomy issues to reduce inertia to join CES.

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Discussing trust and resilience: The need for a healthy dose of distrust

Scharte

2024

Risk Hazard & Crisis Pub Pol

3

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How are trust and reslience related? There is a lack of conceptual discussions. This paper analyzes trust and resilience with respect to the system of critical infrastructures and engineers working on critical infrastructure resilience. The results are three findings based on the assumption that resilience and trust are mechanisms to cope with complexity and uncertainty inherent to modern societies and critical infrastructures. First, they are no functional alternatives. Trust is an everyday process where favorable expectations help to act “as if” uncertainty was successfully resolved. Resilience helps to cope in “what if” cases when disaster strikes. Second, resembling the risk perception paradox, too much trust in critical infrastructures might lead to complacency, decreasing individual coping capacities and subsequently resilience. People need a healthy dose of distrust—distrust being a functional alternative to trust and not its opposite—to be aware that a disruption might happen and prepare for it. Third, notwithstanding the difficulties of uncertainty communication, engineers need to communicate limits to knowledge resulting from complexity transparently. This might decrease trust in specific solutions, but could sustain overall system trust, because it helps to adjust favorable expectations.

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Vertrauen, Risiko und komplexe Systeme: das Beispiel zukünftiger Energieversorgung

Cited by 12 publications

References 52 publications

The IAFOR International Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment – Hawaii 2021 Official Conference Proceedings

The IAFOR International Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment – Hawaii 2021 Official Conference Proceedings

Striving for Energy Autonomy? An Empirical Investigation of Homeowners’ Drivers and Barriers to Participation in Community Energy Systems in Germany

Discussing trust and resilience: The need for a healthy dose of distrust

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