Social acceptance, sources of inequality, and autonomy issues toward sustainable energy transition

Abstract

The global energy and climate agenda has been progressing fast, going through different stages and coevolved with scientific advancements (Nikas et al. 2021). In order to reach carbon neutrality, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Shukla et al. 2022), clearly states the importance of a multi-pronged approach based, among others, on: phasing out fossil fuels, using renewable energy sources and improving energy efficiency for both supply and demand (Salvia et al. 2021). Despite the beneficiary impact of the transition to cleaner energy, there are various idiosyncratic effects which should also be treated, not only technical, but of social, economic, and political nature (Marinakis et al. 2020). Implementation of appropriate energy policies necessitates the understanding of the level of their social acceptance. Technology and social conflicts may have mutual effects, entailing the potential rejection of technologies and projects by the general public. Therefore, it is important to acquire further knowledge on the components of social acceptance to promote policies and projects implementation toward improving community welfare. To meet sustainability goals, numerous policies have focused on the overall electricity demand. In this direction, the issue of inequality in electricity consumption has attracted growing concerns. In this spirit, investigating the factors affecting electricity consumption is fundamental toward (a) understanding households’ inability to maintain adequate levels of energy and (b) alleviating energy poverty in general (Doukas and Marinakis 2020). At technical level, the integration of renewable energy will be a crucial feature of energy systems, which entails a deep understanding of energy networks (Taylor et al. 2022). In this context, there is a growing debate concerning the role of decentralized and distributed solutions. It is therefore required to formulate evaluation methods that allow cooperation among the different factors toward promoting local energy transition solutions (Ha and Kumar 2021). Moreover, in addition to the established solutions of the solar and wind industry, the focus can also be directed toward the development of less conventional solutions such as the geothermal energy projects. The present Special Issue of the Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems 2020 Conference (SDEWES2020) aims to contribute to the debate on the aforementioned subjects, as well as to the analysis of the effective policies toward a well-established transition of the energy sector.