Moving towards socio-technical scenarios of the German energy transition—lessons learned from integrated energy scenario building

Thomas Pregger (), Tobias Naegler, Wolfgang Weimer-Jehle, Sigrid Prehofer and Wolfgang Hauser
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Thomas Pregger: German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Tobias Naegler: German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Wolfgang Weimer-Jehle: University of Stuttgart
Sigrid Prehofer: University of Stuttgart
Wolfgang Hauser: University of Stuttgart

Climatic Change, 2020, vol. 162, issue 4, No 4, 1743-1762

Abstract: Abstract Energy scenarios describing transition pathways towards low-emission energy systems are commonly used to design mitigation strategies. There is a growing awareness in the research community that energy transitions should be understood as socio-technical transitions and that energy scenario construction should reflect this fact. This paper presents an application of a socio-technical scenario building method for improving long-term scenarios and strategies for the energy transition in Germany. Developing integrated scenarios on a national level starts with employing the cross impact balancing (CIB) approach for identifying consistent societal scenarios. As a first step, relevant context factors are selected and defined (39 descriptors and alternative future developments). Interviews with experts are used to develop a qualitative impact network for the CIB. The resulting context scenarios are then transferred to quantitative energy scenarios by using two different energy models that account for energy demand and supply structures for Germany. A final evaluation focuses on primary energy demand, renewable energy shares, and direct energy-related CO2 emissions. The approach integrates statements of societal and energy model experts and results in an interdisciplinary knowledge integration. This in turn provides insight into the method’s capacity to improve the consistency of energy scenarios and to identify potential societal risks related to the energy transition process.

Keywords: Cross impact balancing; CIB; Energy system modeling; Energy transition; Socio-technical scenario (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10584-019-02598-0

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