IWÖ-HSG has been pioneering research on social acceptance of renewable energies for more than a decade. Current research focusses on the dynamics of community acceptance, including the role of emotions, and on the influence of citizen co-investment and community benefits on social acceptance.
The transition from fossil fuels to electric vehicles is a key element of decarbonizing the transport sector. Our research in this domain focuses on consumer preferences and business models for electric vehicles in combination with renewable energies. We investigate key touchpoints in the purchase process and derive behaviorally informed policy recommendations for accelerating the EV transition.
Decarbonizing the energy sector is no longer a matter of waiting for technological breakthroughs. How can innovative business models accelerate the deployment of mature renewable energy technologies like solar, wind and hydropower? In this research stream, we investigate the diffusion of new business models combining distributed renewables and storage to satisfy consumer demand for clean energy.
Energy and climate policies can be important drivers of the low-carbon energy transition, but they also create risks for investors. If sufficient amounts of capital are to be mobilized for investment in clean energy and transport infrastructure, it is important to design policies that minimize risk for different types of investors. We use choice experiments and other empirical methods to measure the price of policy risk.
Why is it so difficult for countries, firms and consumers to overcome our current attachment to non renewable energies, a phenomenon that former US president George W. Bush, in 2006, called an «addiction to oil»? We investigate mechanisms of path dependence and carbon lock in and explore ways to overcome it on micro, meso and macro levels.