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

英国政府有一个雄心勃勃的目标，即到2050年将二氧化碳排放量减少80%，而能源需求的减少将在实现这一目标方面发挥重要作用。虽然传统的减少碳排放的研究侧重于能源的直接消耗(我们如何提供能源，我们使用什么类型的燃料，以及我们如何使用它们等)，但对材料和产品在减少能源需求中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制造产品，如建筑、基础设施、车辆和家居用品。大部分能源被用于生产我们创造现代生活方式的关键原材料--钢、水泥、铝、纸和聚合物--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、使用和交付产品、材料和服务的新方法时，才能在降低英国工业的能源消耗方面发生阶段性变化。在就新产品和材料战略的技术和社会可行性向决策者提出明确建议之前，需要解决一组基本的研究问题。这些问题关系到各种公众将如何回应产品设计、管理和使用方面的创新建议。例如，更节能的产品可能需要不同的运作方式或看起来非常不同的外观，而从所有权模式向服务提供模式的重大转变(例如，直接拥有汽车到汽车俱乐部和租赁)也可以带来相当大的物质效率和能源需求减少。更广泛的公众成员和关键决策者会欢迎、反对或积极推动这种供应链创新吗？了解公众观点对企业和政府部门的决策者有何影响？了解这些问题的答案是这个项目的主要重点。由卡迪夫大学领导并与绿色联盟合作的研究将结合定性和定量的社会科学方法-特别是专家访谈和研讨会、思考性研究和(GB)国家调查。该项目分为4个阶段，跨度为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做出的假设。工作包2包括四个研讨会-在爱丁堡、加的夫、伦敦和一个农村地点举行-公众将在那里讨论已确定的变革路径。在工作包3中，我们将对1,000名英国公众进行具有全国代表性的调查，进一步探索公众对设计和改变材料使用方式的看法。该项目的一个特别创新的方面是一套有针对性的政策参与活动(在工作包4中)，在这些活动中，我们将举办研讨会、访谈和其他利益相关者的直接参与，探索公众观点调查结果对英国企业、政策和政治领域关键决策者(包括通过绿色联盟针对议员的气候领导计划的议员)的影响。与工作包1、2和3中收集的经验数据一起，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应用于创新材料和产品的交付/使用方面的政府政策和行业决策，实现英国最终能源消耗的减少。

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.