Energy Cafe: Enough of Ethics
Enough of Ethics – Operationalizing Energy Sufficiency in Municipal Energy Planning
Hosted by Simon Önnered & Erin Rizzato Devlin
Energy sufficiency remains a marginalised area of energy policy, despite mandated by the European Commission’s Energy Efficiency Directive and legally required in municipal energy planning in Sweden. Despite which, current practise and policy remain focused on increasing production, spurring consumption, and scaling the transmission thereof.
Having worked closely with a municipality in Sweden over the last two years, this seminar presents the obstacles faced along the way of implementing sufficiency policies, the deliberations, formulations, and eventual way forward towards a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient energy system.
We argue for how sufficiency can provide an answer to the challenges of energy equity, environmental sustainability and resilience. In doing so, we also raise the questions of ethics and values around sufficiency. To end, we call into question the reality of green growth whilst proposing solutions that balance sufficiency and development – and thus alleviates its implementation in practise and policy.
About the Cafe Series
The Energy Café is an informal, open and inclusive space where people across our network, from undergraduates to Professors Emeriti, can come together for an hour to share ideas about the energy research they are working on. It is intended to encourage collaborations, expand research horizons, and inspire new ideas and questions about issues of energy.
Fostering collaboration and interdisciplinarity are at the heart of the Centre’s ethos and the motivation for the Café. By openly exchanging ideas with others and working across disciplines, the Energy Café offers a unique venue that celebrates the diversity of roles and contributions individuals make to energy research and research culture.