Power Choices: Exploring Just and Sustainable Electrification in Practice

Workshop: Power Choices: Exploring Just and Sustainable Electrification in Practice

Policy makers see electrification as a central contributor to reaching 2050 climate targets, but as a societal process, it entails significant social, environmental, and energy system consequences. Over the coming years, electrification will target heavy transport, industry, and the petroleum sector.

This workshop will discuss the merits of these overarching goals, while also examining controversies around higher electricity demand, electricity prices, conflicts over land and resources, renewable energy production, and grid capacity. The core question is how to ensure just and sustainable electrification—safeguarding the need for emission reductions while considering broader societal and environmental values.

Successful electrification depends on governance processes that effectively navigate tensions and trade-offs, recognizing the limits to electrification and fostering democratic legitimacy. To this end, the workshop will explore how social and technological disciplines can collaborate, and the potential for new types of science-society partnerships to reshape principles of decision making. We will focus on both regional and national challenges, hearing perspectives from researchers, the public sector, civil society, and industry.

The workshop will be relevant for:

Academics from different disciplines
Public sector decision-makers
Actors from industry and business
Civil society

The goals of the workshop:

Enhance understanding of electrification as a complex societal process
Identify and discuss key challenges and opportunities associated with electrification
Promote interdisciplinary collaboration and dialogue between different actors
Contribute to a more informed and reflective debate about electrification

Preliminary program:

09:00	Tomas Moe Skjølsvold, NTNU – Setting the stage
09:10	Societal perspectives on electrification: opportunities, tensions, limitations Nina Schefte, Hydro Jan Magne Bae, Renewables Norway NN, Trøndelag County NN, Trondheim Municipality Elisabeth Sørheim, Bergen Municipality
10:30	Break
10:45	Research perspectives on electrification Pernille Seljom, IFE Gisle Solbu, NTNU Sampsa Hyysalo, Aalto University Ruth Woods, NTNU
11:30	Facilitated discussions & Break-out groups Towards new principles for decision-making for just and legitimate electrification
12:15	Lunch

reg - democracy

Registration

power-choices-explorinag-just-and-sustainable-electrification-in-practice notis

Practical information:

Tueday 1 April: 09:00 - 12:00

Moderated presentations and discussion
Modified Chatham Rules
Location: Gruva, NTNU
Estimated seats: 50
Organisers:
The workshop is organized in collaboration between FME NTRANS and the collaborative research project REGEL.
Tomas Moe Skjølsvold og Pernille Seljom