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

理查德·赫什（richard Hirsh），弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学，解除管制时代的技术变革：重构电力系统中环境友好型技术创新研究本项目研究了美国电力系统中的技术创新是如何受到放松管制的影响的，特别是研究了对环境影响较小的技术，如可再生能源和节能设备。这一主题引起了人们的兴趣，因为正在进行的对公用事业系统的放松管制突出了与这些技术相关的明显矛盾的公共政策目标。一方面，一些州对公用事业监管的减少已经释放了自由市场的力量，并刺激了技术创新，这些技术可以以低成本提供新颖的服务。另一方面，国家监管的减少减少了对生产和使用更少浪费电力的技术的研究；在过去，这些努力是由现在正在被抛弃的同一类型的监管推动的。为了了解在日益放松管制的电力公用事业系统中推动和阻碍技术创新的不寻常力量，本研究将重点放在公共利益倡导团体、企业企业家、政府实体和以前受监管的公用事业上。受公共政策变化影响最大的技术——以及将成为本研究主题的技术——包括可再生能源技术，如风力涡轮机、光伏发电和生物能源；热电联产、燃气轮机、区域供热和其他使用化石燃料的发电技术，但比传统的电力硬件效率更高（对环境的影响更小）；能源效率技术（或需求方、终端使用技术）。最普遍的是，本研究考察了政府和非政府政党对技术创新的影响，这些政党寻求实现减少国家监管和改善电力公用事业系统环境的目标，这些目标显然受到重视，但可能不一致。使用跨越学科界限的系统方法，成果包括几篇文章（以及一本新书的基础），涉及快速变化的公共和经济政策期间的技术创新。与其他学者所研究的系统不同，该项目关注的系统由于使用新技术而发生了重大变化，因此有助于这种有用的STS方法。与该项目过去的项目一样，这项研究对STS从业者以及当今商业和政府领域的政策制定者具有实际意义。

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.