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Climate change is not only changing the Arctic environment and ecosystems: it is also opening up the idea of the region as a last frontier to be explored. Recent representations of the future for the Arctic have become closely associated with various business-friendly opportunities as the land and sea ice is melting: They often represent so-called win-win solutions to climate change, also for Arct
The Arctic is a popular place to do research. Many countries fund scientific research projects in the region, and international scientists are a considerable part of the Arctic population. Knowledge and expertise about the Arctic is no longer restricted to the Arctic states. Less controversial than flag planting at the North Pole and test drilling for oil, scientists and research stations are ofte
Flexible consumption in the household sector concerns individuals’ daily choices and the routines that develop in their households. Targeting household-level energy consumption therefore requires an understanding of energy consumption in relation to individual household members’ activity patterns. Individual time-diaries reveal when, for how long and where energy-related activities occur, permitti
In this chapter, we discuss the need for deeper knowledge about the relation between people’s daily activities and their electricity use and how to increase our knowledge through time use surveys and the visualization of aggregate activity patterns. To understand people’s energy consumption and how to improve energy efficiency or reduce demand during certain peak hours requires an understanding of
Nuclear power plants generate electricity and a large amount of waste heat which is valuable for cogeneration. District heating (DH) is a suitable technology to decarbonize the European heat sector. By contrast with most of nuclear non-electric applications, nuclear district heating (NDH) has already been implemented in Europe, thus providing us with some valuable empirical insights. This paper in
Purpose: This paper studies a Swedish municipality that wants to go beyond its own operations, involving the local industry in saving energy to improve the environment. The paper aims to analyse the experiences and practical implications of using policy networks for implementing energy-efficiency measures in private industrial companies. Design/methodology/approach: The researchers closely followe
This article analyses the factors influencing stakeholder participation in municipal energy and climate planning, together with stakeholder experiences of participation in such processes. The article presents findings from a survey of 60 Swedish municipalities and detailed case studies of energy and climate planning in five Swedish municipalities to explore which stakeholders are involved, how and
Current climate change is opening up the Arctic region, not only in physical terms, as ice melts and former solid frozen ocean becomes penetrable for transport and resource extraction, but also in terms of opening up to global concerns as a contested political space: geopolitical issues that used to define the Arctic has become more complicated. It is challenging for the current cooperation in the
This article focuses on the development of sustainable energy systems in the Swedish local context and, specifically, on the actors that have proved to be crucial for such transitions: municipally owned energy companies. With the theoretical lens inspired by LTS's (large technical systems), the concept of the system builder was analyzed for the purpose of further understanding what characterizes t
Examining renovation processes having reduced energy consumption as an explicit goal, this article considers how energy efficiency is made part of renovation processes, focusing on the planning and design phase. Interviews and participant observations of meetings have been conducted. Applying a framework developed in practice theory, we demonstrate the importance of understanding routines, technol
Swedish municipalities have traditionally had significant powers and played a major role in implementing national energy strategies. This paper describes the factors influencing development of municipal climate and energy plans in five Swedish municipalities and assesses the relevance and importance of these factors from theoretical and practical perspectives. The questions raised in the paper are
Policies to reduce household energy use usually target the individual customer. This is probably one explanation for the limited effect of many information policies, because two concepts with different meanings are confused: individual and household. In most contexts, an individual stands for what s/he does, but in the policy context, an individual is taken to represent the entire household. This
Improved industrial energy efficiency is a cornerstone in climate change mitigation. Research results suggest that there is still major untapped potential for improved industrial energy efficiency. The major model used to explain the discrepancy between optimal level of energy efficiency and the current level is the barrier model, e.g., different barriers to energy efficiency inhibit adoption of c
When it comes to improving energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, municipalities are important actors. The Swedish Energy Agency initiated a program called Sustainable Municipalities to support strategic energy activities at the local level. Participating municipalities were mandated to develop local energy and climate strategies. This study gives a general overview of how the 60 part
The interest in self-consumption of PV electricity from grid-connected residential systems is increasing among PV system owners and in the scientific community. Self-consumption can be defined as the share of the total PV production directly consumed by the PV system owner. With decreased subsidies for PV electricity in several countries, increased self-consumption could raise the profit of PV sys
We examine how building and appliance technologies relate to their use by occupants through practices at home and at work. The aim is to analyse how practices are influenced by buildings and other technologies and by social requirements and to add to ongoing research on how to contribute to a transition to more sustainable everyday practices. Interview, quantitative and observational material are
Regional climate and energy planning in Sweden has long been fairly weak. Starting in 2008, however, the regional administrative level was strengthened, when the County Administrative Boards (CABs) were commissioned to develop regional climate and energy strategies. Coordinating and involving various stakeholders in the strategy work was essential to the assignment. The process of developing these
To improve the properties and functionality of starch, it is important to understand the physicochemical and structural characteristics as raw material, after being modified to increase its characteristics and/or during changes due to the processing conditions. For this reason, the objective of the present thesis is to improve the understanding of characteristics and molecular properties like mola
Industrial energy efficiency is one of the most important means of reducing the threat of increased global warming. Research however states that despite the existence of numerous technical energy efficiency measures, its deployment is hindered by the existence of various barriers to energy efficiency. The complexity of increasing energy efficiency in manufacturing industry calls for an interdiscip
