{"id":2205,"date":"2020-09-03T09:26:24","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T09:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/sussexenergygroup\/?p=2205"},"modified":"2024-02-12T13:38:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T13:38:29","slug":"visions-and-fantasies-of-the-sustainable-future-how-to-understand-narratives-of-the-low-carbon-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/sussexenergygroup\/2020\/09\/03\/visions-and-fantasies-of-the-sustainable-future-how-to-understand-narratives-of-the-low-carbon-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"Visions and Fantasies of the Sustainable Future – How to Understand Narratives of the Low Carbon Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How do we construct narratives of a low carbon future? A new paper co-authored by SEG researchers, <\/em>Imagining sustainable energy and mobility transitions: Valence, temporality, and radicalism in 38 visions of a low-carbon future<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> unpacks the rhetoric behind a range of possible futures available to seven innovation case studies including automated mobility, electric vehicles (EVs) and smart meters.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This blog explains how our researchers identified the characteristics of these powerful messages using tools from the analysis of rhetoric and folktales, and summarises some findings on the role these visions play in determining the shape of low carbon transition to come.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper draws on the work of the Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand (CIED)<\/a> and the <\/em>Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS)<\/em><\/a>. The \u2018visions\u2019 were developed from a synthesis of the work conducted by the <\/em>End Use Energy Demand (EUED) Centres<\/em><\/a> over five years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a vision, and why does it matter?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talk of visions and fantasies may sound detached from reality at first glance. Yet these imaginative processes play a valuable role as descriptions of a possible future, offering a coherent narrative or even a performance that can be developed or contrasted with alternative perspectives. As the paper defines them, they are no less than capable of revealing \u201cfundamental patterns of human reasoning, and how humans communicate their thinking to others, in a future oriented context\u201d. Alongside this, they can map out a possibility space, provide a framework to understand the issues to be resolved, and produce powerful symbols that draw disparate groups into unified coalitions capable of focused action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some of the terms used throughout the paper’s analysis of imagined futures<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The many possible futures of freight trucking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trucking’s future may take it far from what we think of it as today<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the most vivid examples of the varied possibilities a single subject can generate is that of the uptake of a new innovation, automated mobility, and its application to the freight industry. The paper identifies seven distinct futures for the sector:<\/p>\n\n\n\n