TY - JOUR

T1 - Invisible energy policies

T2 - a new agenda for energy demand reduction

AU - Royston, Sarah

AU - Selby, Jan

AU - Shove, Elizabeth Anne

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Energy Policy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Energy Policy, 123, 2018 DOI:10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.052

PY - 2018/12/1

Y1 - 2018/12/1

N2 - This article makes the case for a new and ambitious research and governance agenda for energy demand reduction.It argues that existing ‘demand-side’ approaches focused on promoting technological efficiency and informed individual consumption are unlikely to be adequate to achieving future carbon emissions reduction goals; it points out that very little attention has so far been paid to the impacts of non-energy policies on energy demand; and it submits that a much fuller integration of energy demand questions into policy is required. It advances a general framework, supported by illustrative examples, for understanding the impacts of ‘non-energy’ policies on energy demand. It reflects on why these connections have been so little explored and addressed within energy research and policy. And it argues that, for all their current ‘invisibility’, there is nonetheless scopefor increasing the visibility of, and in effect ‘mainstreaming’, energy demand reduction objectives within other policy areas. Researchers and policymakers, we contend, need to develop better understandings of how energy demand might be made governable, and how non-energy policies might be revised, alone and in combination, to help steer long-term changes in energy demand.

AB - This article makes the case for a new and ambitious research and governance agenda for energy demand reduction.It argues that existing ‘demand-side’ approaches focused on promoting technological efficiency and informed individual consumption are unlikely to be adequate to achieving future carbon emissions reduction goals; it points out that very little attention has so far been paid to the impacts of non-energy policies on energy demand; and it submits that a much fuller integration of energy demand questions into policy is required. It advances a general framework, supported by illustrative examples, for understanding the impacts of ‘non-energy’ policies on energy demand. It reflects on why these connections have been so little explored and addressed within energy research and policy. And it argues that, for all their current ‘invisibility’, there is nonetheless scopefor increasing the visibility of, and in effect ‘mainstreaming’, energy demand reduction objectives within other policy areas. Researchers and policymakers, we contend, need to develop better understandings of how energy demand might be made governable, and how non-energy policies might be revised, alone and in combination, to help steer long-term changes in energy demand.

KW - Energy demand

KW - Policy

KW - Governance

KW - Mainstreaming

KW - Integration

U2 - 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.052

DO - 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.052

M3 - Journal article

VL - 123

SP - 127

EP - 135

JO - Energy Policy

JF - Energy Policy

SN - 0301-4215

ER -