Technological Change in a Deregulated Era: A Study of Innovation in Environmentally Preferable Technologies in a Restructured Electric Utility System

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AbstractRichard Hirsh, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Technological Change in a Deregulated Era: A Study of Innovation in Environmentally Preferable Technologies in a Restructured Electric Utility SystemThis project examines how technological innovation in the American electric utility system has been affected by deregulation, specifically examining research on technologies with low environmental impact, such as renewable energy and energy-efficient devices. The subject has interest because ongoing deregulation of the utility system has highlighted apparently contradictory public policy goals relating to these technologies. On the one hand, reduction of state utility regulation in a few states has already unleashed free-market forces and spurred innovation on technologies that can provide novel services at low cost. On the other hand, reduced state oversight has diminished research efforts on technologies that produce and use electricity less wastefully; in the past, those efforts had been spurred by the same type of regulation that is now being discarded. To gain an understanding of the unusual forces driving--and hindering-technological innovation in an increasingly deregulated electric utility system, this study focuses on public interest advocacy groups, corporate entrepreneurs, government entities, and formerly regulated utilities. The technologies most affected by changes in public policy--and the technologies that will be the subject of this research-include renewable energy technologies, such as wind turbines, photovoltaics, and biopower; cogeneration, gas turbine, district heating, and other generation technologies that use fossil fuel, but at higher efficiencies (and with less environmental impact) than traditional electric utility hardware; energy-efficiency technologies (or demand-side, end-use technologies).Most generally, this research examines the effects on technological innovation of government and nongovernment parties that seek to achieve the apparently cherished--but perhaps inconsistent--goals of reduced state regulation and environmental improvement in the electric utility system. Using a systems approach that spans disciplinary boundaries, outcomes include several articles (and the foundation for a new book) dealing with technological innovation during a period of rapidly changing public and economic policy. The project contributes to this useful STS approach by focusing on a system that, unlike those studied by other scholars, has seen its momentum altered significantly because of the use of new technologies. As in past projects by this PI, this research has practical significance to STS practitioners, as well as to contemporary policy makers in the worlds of business and government.