4
February 2009 - Barriers to change may be
comparatively small as long as transition
to a more sustainable energy system seeks
to emulate existing practices and properties
of current technologies but reductions in
CO2-emissions will also be insufficient.
More radical changes that address the level
of consumption will meet more substantial
obstacles that touch upon basic elements
in the dynamics of consumption, household
and economic development. Overcoming these
more serious obstacles is not unfeasible,
but it will require more ambitious technological
development combined with changes in the
architecture of the energy system and changes
in social practices – which will require
political-administrative funding, investment
and regulation.
The aim of these research
notes is to review and discuss major socio-cultural
barriers to new and more sustainable forms
of energy supply, particularly to those
that are based on hydrogen as energy carrier.
Any transition to a more sustainable energy
system, radically reducing greenhouse gas
emissions, is bound to run into a host of
different barriers – technological and economic,
but also social and cultural. This will
also be the case for a large-scale application
of hydrogen as energy carrier, especially
if the system is going to be based on renewable
energy sources. Reaching sufficient reductions
in greenhouse gas emissions may require
more than dissemination of new energy technologies.
Also reductions or moderations in energy
demand may be necessary. Hence, a central
point in the research notes is to consider
not only socio-cultural obstacles for changing
technologies in energy production, distribution
and consumption but also obstacles for changing
the scale of energy consumption, i.e. moderating
the growth in how much energy is consumed
or even reducing consumption volumes.
The concept of socio-technical
systems is central in understanding the
significance of socio-cultural factors in
technological transition. Everyday routines
and habits, aesthetic preferences and locked-in
logics of consumption and mobility are important
features of and may constitute significant
barriers to changes in technological systems
such as our predominantly fossil fuel based
energy system. These issues are further
discussed in relation to transport and mobility
as well as household and equipment.
The conclusion is that
barriers to change may be comparatively
small as long as transition to a more sustainable
energy system seeks to emulate existing
practices and properties of current technologies,
for instance in terms of speed and range
of vehicles, but reductions in CO2-emissions
will also be insufficient. More radical
changes that address the level of consumption
will meet more substantial obstacles that
touch upon basic elements in the dynamics
of consumption, household and economic development.
Overcoming these more
serious obstacles is not unfeasible, but
it will require more ambitious technological
development combined with changes in the
architecture of the energy system and changes
in social practices – which will require
political-administrative funding, investment
and regulation.
Contact: Senior scientist Lars Kjerulf Petersen
Socio-cultural barriers to the development
of a sustainable energy system – the case
of hydrogen. National Environmental Research
Institute, Aarhus University . Petersen,
L.K. & Andersen, A.H
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Vasse Wonnerup Water
Quality Improvement Plan
Joint Media release
- 5 February 2009 - The long-term environmental
sustainability of the Vasse-Wonnerup wetlands
and Geographe Bay area in the South-West
of Western Australia should be strengthened
because of determined joint Australian and
State Government endeavours to plan for
its future.
Recognised under the
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands as a Wetland
of International Importance, the regional
waterways’ system now has a strategic plan
to manage and reduce damaging nutrients
within it.
A draft Water Quality
Improvement Plan was released for public
comment today as the culmination of three
years’ cooperative government effort.
Western Australian Minister
for Water, Dr Graham Jacobs said management
of nutrients flowing into Geographe Bay
was a high priority for government which
aimed to protect the area’s outstanding
ecological, social and cultural values.
Australian Government
Environment Minister Peter Garrett said
those values were reflected in the Ramsar
listing, but unfortunately wetland systems
in the area, as elsewhere around the nation,
had experienced severe water quality problems
for many years.
“Wetlands are the kidneys
of the environment, filtering nutrients
and pollutants from our waterways as well
as providing really important habitat for
native birds, fish and other animals,” Mr
Garrett said.
“Last year, two migratory
shorebirds – a red knot and a curlew sandpiper
– tagged by bird enthusiasts in the Geographe
area a year earlier – were spotted by Chinese
ornithologists near Beijing, about 8,000
kilometres away.
“The importance of these
South West wetlands to the two million birds
that fly from Siberia, northern China and
Alaska to Australia and New Zealand every
year is just one example of why they are
a natural asset that must be protected.”
The Australian Government
has identified the Vasse Wonnerup as a priority
coastal hotspot under the Caring for our
Country initiative.
The Western Australian
Government co-funded the project through
the departments of Water, Agriculture and
Food, Environment and Conservation, and
Planning and Infrastructure.
Dr Jacobs said large
areas of seagrass had been lost in marine
and estuarine environments in Western Australia
as a result of nutrient enrichment.
“There is a strong recognition
in the management plan that a balance is
required between land use activities in
the catchment and protection of the environmental
systems,” Dr Jacobs said.
“For this to be achieved,
changes to land use practices are required
across all sectors from urbanisation through
to broad acre dairying and beef farming.
“Implementation of the
plan could include an upgrade of the Busselton
Waste Water Treatment plant by the Water
Corporation, to ensure no net increase in
nutrients and further exploration of water
recycling options.
“We are also working
with the Shire of Busselton to introduce
best practice into new urban developments.
The proposed strategies should reduce the
impact of new urbanisation by up to 60 per
cent.”
The draft plan is open
for comment until 31 March 2009. The link
to the plan on the West Australian Department
of Water’s website is below:
A draft water quality
improvement plan for the Vasse Wonnerup
Wetlands and Geographe Bay (PDF - 4.8 MB)
