Opportunities and Barriers to Achieving Transitions in UK Energy and Materials Use - The Role of Publics, Society and Decision-Makers

英国政府制定了一个雄心勃勃的目标，即到2050年将二氧化碳排放量减少80%，而减少能源需求将在实现这一目标方面发挥重要作用。虽然传统的碳减排研究主要集中在能源的直接消耗（我们如何供应能源，我们使用什么类型的燃料，以及我们如何使用它们等），对材料和产品在减少能源需求方面可能发挥的作用的研究要少得多。世界上三分之一的能源用于工业生产，如建筑物、基础设施、车辆和家庭用品。这些能源的大部分都用于生产我们创造现代生活方式的关键原材料--钢铁、水泥、铝、纸张和聚合物--而我们在生产这些材料方面已经非常高效。因此，只有当我们能够确定设计、使用和提供产品、材料和服务的新方法时，才能在减少英国工业能源消耗方面实现一步变化。在向决策者提出关于新产品和材料战略的技术和社会可行性的建议之前，需要解决一系列基本的研究问题。这些问题涉及公众如何对产品设计、管理和使用方面的创新建议作出反应。例如，更节能的产品可能需要以不同的方式操作或看起来非常不同，而从所有权模式到服务交付模式的重大转变（例如，直接拥有汽车俱乐部和租赁）也可以提供相当大的材料效率和能源需求减少。广大公众和关键决策者是否会欢迎、反对或积极推动这种供应链创新？了解公众意见对企业和政府部门决策者的影响是什么？了解这些问题的答案是这个项目的主要重点。由卡迪夫大学领导的研究，并与绿色联盟合作，将结合联合收割机定性和定量的社会科学方法-特别是专家访谈和研讨会，审议研究和（GB）全国调查。该项目分为四个阶段，为期45个月。工作包1包括与英国INDEMAND合作伙伴的初步工作，以及与行业和政策代表的访谈，以确定在减少材料能源需求的关键途径中对人和社会的假设。工作包2涉及四个讲习班-在爱丁堡，卡迪夫，伦敦和一个农村地点举行-在那里，公众成员将审议确定的变革途径。在工作包3中，我们将对1,000名英国公众进行一项具有全国代表性的调查，进一步探索公众对设计和改变我们使用材料的方式的看法。该项目的一个特别创新的方面是一系列有针对性的政策参与活动（在工作包4中），我们将举办研讨会、访谈和其他直接利益相关者参与，与英国企业、政策和政治领域的关键决策者（包括国会议员通过绿色联盟的气候领导力计划）探讨公众意见调查结果的影响。沿着工作包1、2和3中收集的经验数据，工作包4中的活动将使我们能够制定明确的行动建议，通过将社会障碍和机会的知识引入政府政策和行业决策，实现英国最终能源消费的减少。

The UK Government has an ambitious target of reducing CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050, and energy demand reduction will have to play a major part in meeting this goal. While traditional research on mitigation of carbon emissions has focused on direct consumption of energy (how we supply energy, what types of fuel we use, and how we use them etc.), the role that materials and products might play in energy demand reduction is far less well studied. One third of the world's energy is used in industry to make products, such as buildings, infrastructure, vehicles and household goods. Most of this energy is expended in producing the key stock materials with which we create modern lifestyles - steel, cement, aluminium, paper, and polymers - and we are already very efficient in producing them. A step change in reducing the energy expended by UK industry can therefore only come about if we are able to identify new ways of designing, using, and delivering products, materials and services.Before firm recommendations can be made to decision-makers regarding the combined technical and social feasibility of new products and material strategies, a fundamental set of research questions will need to be addressed. These concern how various publics will respond to innovative proposals for product design, governance and use. For example, more energy efficient products may need to operate differently or look very different, while a significant shift from an ownership model to a service delivery model (e.g., direct car ownership to car clubs and rental) can also deliver considerable material efficiency and energy demand reduction. Will members of the wider public and key decision-makers welcome, oppose, or actively drive such supply chain innovations, and what are the implications of knowledge about public views for decision-makers in the corporate and government sector? Understanding the answers to these questions is the main focus of this project.The research led by Cardiff University, and partnered with the Green Alliance, will combine qualitative and quantitative social science methodologies - in particular expert interviews and workshops, deliberative research and a (GB) national survey. The project has 4 phases, spanning a 45 month period. Work Package 1 involves initial work with UK INDEMAND partners, and interviews with industry and policy representatives, to identify the assumptions being made about people and society in key pathways for materials energy demand reduction. Work Package 2 involves four workshops - held in Edinburgh, Cardiff, London and a rural location - where members of the public will deliberate the identified pathways to change. In Work Package 3 we will conduct a nationally representative survey of 1,000 members of the British public, further exploring public perspectives on ways of designing and changing our use of materials.A particularly innovative aspect of the project is a set of targeted policy engagement activities (in Work Package 4) where we will hold workshops, interviews and other direct stakeholder involvement, exploring the implications of the findings about public views with key decision-makers in UK businesses, policy and the political sphere (including Parliamentarians through the Green Alliance's Climate Leadership programme for MPs). Along with the empirical data gathered in Work Packages 1, 2, and 3, the activities in Work Package 4 will allow us to formulate clear recommendations for action on achieving a reduction in UK final energy consumption through bringing knowledge of social barriers and opportunities to bear on governmental policy and industry decision-making about innovative materials and products delivery/use.