Economic and Social Analyses on Energy Technologies

The expansion of renewable energies and the transformation of the energy system stands and falls with the support of the stakeholders on site. Therefore, we research questions of acceptance, existing barriers and conflicts in order to support clients both in the implementation of RE projects, of energy products and in questions of regulatory design and to identify options for action.

Our clients benefit in many ways from our socio-scientific analyses and many years of expertise: Our studies provide clients with a reliable, quantified assessment of whether an intended target group is willing to invest. By means of our stakeholder acceptance analyses, clients receive social acceptance maps with relevant topois and design suggestions. Thanks to our barrier analyses, we identify for our clients barriers that stand in the way of market diffusion or measures, as well as proposals for measures to remove the barriers so that nothing stands in the way of successful implementation.

For your question, we develop an analysis and consulting framework from our repertoire of methods such as experimental designs (e.g. choice experiments), quantitative questionnaire studies, acceptance analysis frameworks, stakeholder decision analyses, focus groups, expert interviews and future methods (e.g. foresight, scenario techniques), in which we focus on the relevant factors.

We map our social science knowledge in SystemDynamics models, which we can use to evaluate planned urban development projects. In addition, the SystemDynamics models enable us to transfer socio-scientific contexts into serious games and other multimedia communication formats.

We conduct our social science analyses in all relevant energy technologies and have particular scientific experience in photovoltaics - including agri-PV and floating PV -, heat technologies, energy efficiency and comfort in buildings, storage systems and hydrogen, smart grid technologies as well as "Positive Energy District" and "Climate Neutral Neighborhoods".

R&D Services

In the field of "Economic and Social Analyses on Energy Technologies" we offer the following research and development services:

  • Analysis of willingness to invest in renewable energies
  • Experimental and social-empirical studies on behavior and impact
  • Barrier analyses and risk management
  • Dialogue and participation formats
  • Detailed stakeholder analyses
  • Potential analysis of renewable energies

Research Projects on this Topic

IND-E

Decarbonization and Electrification Potentials of the German Industry  Data, stakeholders and models

Copernicus-Ariadne

Evidence-Based Assessment to Map Out the German Energy Transformation

EnStadt:Pfaff

Decentralized Energy Management from the Smart Home to the Urban Quarter

SubSeGa

Serious Gaming – Potentials for Knowledge Transfer and Change of Awareness for more Sustainability

APV Obstbau (Orcharding)

Agrivoltaics as Resilience Concept for Adaptation to Climate Change in Orcharding

APV-MaGa

Agrivoltaics for Mali and Gambia: Sustainable Electricity Production by Integrated Food, Energy and Water Systems

PV2FLOAT

Technology development for floating PV power plants and their implementation for use on artificial waters

HyDrive-OWL

Detailed Concept to Expand the Regional Hydrogen Infrastructure for the Region Encompassing Lippe, Minden-Lübbecke and Bielefeld

H2-SO

Hydrogen Technologies in the Southern Upper Rhine