The social side of the energy transition: Balancing efficiency, sufficiency and costs

The energy supply is to be clean, safe and affordable – that is the goal of the energy transition. Yet the transformation of our energy supply needs investment in things such as the expansion of renewables. The burdens that this entails are often unequally distributed.

In this issue of eco@work we look at the social side of the energy transition. We consider how all consumers can afford clean energy, access sustainable transport and adopt an environmentally friendly lifestyle. We explore the impacts of the energy transition on different population groups and investigate how efficiency and sufficiency measures can reduce the burden on low-income households. And as always we let an external voice have a say: we hear from Elizabeth Shove, Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University in the UK and co-director of the DEMAND research centre (Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand).

Read the current issue of eco@work: The social side of the energy transition