Bridging Social and Technical Sciences: Introduction of the Societal Embeddedness Level

Marit Sprenkeling (), Tara Geerdink, Adriaan Slob and Amber Geurts
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Marit Sprenkeling: Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research—TNO, 2595 DA The Hague, The Netherlands
Tara Geerdink: Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research—TNO, 2595 DA The Hague, The Netherlands
Adriaan Slob: Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research—TNO, 2595 DA The Hague, The Netherlands
Amber Geurts: Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research—TNO, 2595 DA The Hague, The Netherlands

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: The successful and fast development and deployment of renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction technologies is a continuing and structural challenge. The deployment of these technologies is slowed down and sometimes even stalled due to societal challenges like public resistance, lack of appropriate policy and regulations, unsolid business cases and uncertainty concerning the impact on the environment. In this paper we elaborate on societal aspects that influence technology development and deployment and introduce the societal embeddedness level (SEL) framework. Building upon the technology readiness level (TRL), the SEL framework enables the assessment of the current level of societal embeddedness of energy technologies in order to identify the societal aspects which need to be taken into account to accelerate deployment of energy technologies. The SEL framework takes into account four societal dimensions (impact on the environment, stakeholder involvement, policy and regulations, and market and financial resources) and four stages of technology development (exploration, development, demonstration and deployment) that are linked to the TRL. The SEL framework has been elaborated for CCS technologies and is being applied to the monitoring of geological CO 2 storage by the ACT II project DigiMon (Digital Monitoring of CO 2 storage projects). DigiMon is an ACT second call project, funded by the national funding agencies in the period September 2019–August 2022.

Keywords: renewable energy technologies; greenhouse gas reduction technologies; technology deployment; technology readiness; societal readiness; assessment framework; societal embeddedness level; CCS; CO 2 capture and storage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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