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Chapter 25 - Policies for Capacity Development
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- By Lynn Mytelka, United Nations University-MERIT, Francisco Aguayo, El Colegio de México, Grant Boyle, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Sylvia Breukers, Duneworks, Gabriel de Scheemaker, Conduit Ventures Ltd., Ibrahim Abdel Gelil, Arabian Gulf University, René Kemp, United Nations University-MERIT, Joachim Monkelbaan, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Carolina Rossini, University of São Paulo, Jim Watson, University of Sussex, Rosemary Wolson, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Staffan Jacobsson, Chalmers University of Technology, Upendra Tripathy, Government of India, John T. Wilbanks, The Ewing Marro Kauffman Foundation, Youba Sokona, United Nations Economic Commission
- Global Energy Assessment Writing Team
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- Book:
- Global Energy Assessment
- Published online:
- 05 September 2012
- Print publication:
- 27 August 2012, pp 1745-1802
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- Chapter
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Summary
Executive Summary
This chapter focuses on capacities and capacity development for energy transitions. The transitions put forward in GEA require a transformation of energy systems that demand significant changes in the way energy is supplied and used today, irrespective of whether the technologies involved are new to the world or to a country, its producers or users.
Energy transitions are, by definition, long-term, socially embedded processes in the course of which capacities at the individual, organizational, and systems levels, as well as the policies for capacity development themselves, will inevitably change. From this perspective, capacity development can no longer be seen as a simple aggregation of individual skills and competences or the introduction of a new “technology.” Rather, it is a broad process of change in production and consumption patterns, knowledge, skills, organizational forms, and – most importantly – in the established practices and norms of the actors involved, or what are called informal institutions. In other words, a host of new and enhanced capacities will be needed over time. Informal institutions are reflected in a range of beliefs and boundaries that shape choices about new energy technologies. These can include engineering beliefs about what is feasible or worth attempting and boundaries that shape the processes of choice, such as lines of research to pursue, kinds of products to produce, or practices of consultation and dialogue. They also emerge as “path dependence” in contexts where earlier investments result in high sunk costs, habits and practices are entrenched, and “expert views” are shaped by earlier thinking that narrows the range of choices to established technologies and evaluation techniques.
Chapter 11 - Policy, Financing and Implementation
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- By Catherine Mitchell, Janet L. Sawin, Govind R. Pokharel, Daniel Kammen, Zhongying Wang, Solomone Fifita, Mark Jaccard, Ole Langniss, Hugo Lucas, Alain Nadai, Ramiro Trujillo Blanco, Eric Usher, Aviel Verbruggen, Rolf Wüstenhagen, Kaoru Yamaguchi, Douglas Arent, Greg Arrowsmith, Morgan Bazilian, Lori Bird, Thomas Boermans, Alex Bowen, Sylvia Breukers, Thomas Bruckner, Sebastian Busch, Elisabeth Clemens, Peter Connor, Felix Creutzig, Peter Droege, Karin Ericsson, Chris Greacen, Renata Grisoli, Erik Haites, Kirsty Hamilton, Jochen Harnisch, Cameron Hepburn, Suzanne Hunt, Matthias Kalkuhl, Heleen de Koninck, Patrick Lamers, Birger Madsen, Gregory Nemet, Lars J. Nilsson, Supachai Panitchpakdi, David Popp, Anis Radzi, Gustav Resch, Sven Schimschar, Kristin Seyboth, Sergio Trindade, Bernhard Truffer, Sarah Truitt, Dan van der Horst, Saskia Vermeylen, Charles Wilson, Ryan Wiser, David de Jager, Antonina Ivanova Boncheva
- Edited by Ottmar Edenhofer, Ramón Pichs-Madruga, Youba Sokona, Kristin Seyboth, Susanne Kadner, Timm Zwickel, Patrick Eickemeier, Gerrit Hansen, Steffen Schlömer, Christoph von Stechow, Patrick Matschoss
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- Book:
- Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation
- Published online:
- 05 December 2011
- Print publication:
- 21 November 2011, pp 865-950
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Summary
Executive Summary
Renewable energy can provide a host of benefits to society. In addition to the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, governments have enacted renewable energy (RE) policies to meet a number of objectives including the creation of local environmental and health benefits; facilitation of energy access, particularly for rural areas; advancement of energy security goals by diversifying the portfolio of energy technologies and resources; and improving social and economic development through potential employment opportunities. Energy access and social and economic development have been the primary drivers in developing countries whereas ensuring a secure energy supply and environmental concerns have been most important in developed countries.
An increasing number and variety of RE policies–motivated by a variety of factors–have driven substantial growth of RE technologies in recent years. Government policies have played a crucial role in accelerating the deployment of RE technologies. At the same time, not all RE policies have proven effective and efficient in rapidly or substantially increasing RE deployment. The focus of policies is broadening from a concentration almost entirely on RE electricity to include RE heating and cooling and transportation.
RE policies have promoted an increase in RE capacity installations by helping to overcome various barriers. Barriers specific to RE policymaking (e.g., a lack of information and awareness), to implementation (e.g., a lack of an educated and trained workforce to match developing RE technologies) and to financing (e.g., market failures) may further impede deployment of RE.