People power crucial for low-carbon future, new research shows

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressrelease/id/35708

[font face=Serif][font size=5]People power crucial for low-carbon future, new research shows[/font]

[font size=3]Policy makers must harness the power of ordinary people if society is to transition to a low-carbon energy future, argues a leading technology historian.

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The paper - ‘The Roles of Users in Shaping Transitions to New Energy Systems’ - synthesises findings to outline five key types of users that interplay to create and change technology and society’s application of it. Along with his co-authors, Laur Kanger (University of Tartu) and Professor Geert Verbong (Eindhoven University of Technology), Schot urges Government and policy-shapers to understand this central dynamic and the opportunity it affords. Users are not just consumers – they are creators, influencers and game-changers.

The five main sets that influence change are: User-Producer, User-Legitimator, User-Citizen, User-Intermediary and User-Consumer. Crucially, everyday actions and routines shared by these types, create collective beliefs and expectations that pave the way to shaping a new story for energy, taking what is often a novel niche in society through to its overarching energy regime. Taking the long view, the research shows that utilising user power is fundamental to long term change. The onus on Government should be to create incentives, initiatives and a system that is receptive.

Professor Schot said: “Consumers are often overlooked as important actors that are driving a transition towards a low carbon and highly energy-efficient future. In this process they develop new collective routines which shape further consumer choices on a routine basis. Taking this perspective means that government policies should not only focus on providing more information and raising awareness but also on mobilising the power of users for combating climate change and reducing energy use.”

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By: James Hakner
Last updated: Tuesday, 24 May 2016[/font][/font]

[raging moderate]

1. I wonder if it was a mistake to start using that word "consumer" for people.

When I was a child/teen, I don't remember hearing that word used. People were citizens, or customers, or some other word with connotations of respectfulness and responsibility. The word "consumer" focuses so much on the low-level physical experience. It seems so one-dimensional.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Amusingly…

The Oxford English Dictionary gives this as the primary definition of consumer:

A person who or thing which devours, wastes, or destroys; a person who or thing which consumes food or drink.

However, the understanding of consumer -vs- producer dates back at least as far as the late 17th Century.

1692 J. Locke Some Considerations Lowering Interest 20 Money may be considered as in the hands of the Consumer, under which Name I here reckon the Merchant who buys the Commodity, when made, to export.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Large increases in use in the 1930s and 1970s

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=consumers%2C+consumer&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cconsumers%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cconsumer%3B%2Cc0

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. This appears to parallel “economics” (and “economic,” but that dominates the scaling)

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=consumers%2Cconsumer%2Ceconomics&year_start=1700&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cconsumers%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cconsumer%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ceconomics%3B%2Cc0

[hunter]

5. The ability to walk to work or the grocery store is a BIG DEAL.

Anyone who is not actually working on a farm or patrolling the wilderness ought to be enjoying that kind of luxury.