The challenge of energy retrofitting the residential housing stock: Grassroots innovations and socio-technical system change in Worcester, MA

Technology Analysis and Strategic Management

Volumn 24, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 407-420

  Vergragt, Philip J ^a,b   Brown, Halina Szejnwald ^b  

^a TELLUS INSTITUTE   (United States)

^b CLARK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

case study; construction industry; environment; green energy; green innovation; socio technical systems

Indexed keywords

CAPACITY BUILDING; CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK; EMISSION CONTROL; ENERGY RESOURCE; GRASSROOTS LEVEL; GREENHOUSE GAS; RESIDENTIAL ENERGY; STAKEHOLDER; TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT;

MASSACHUSETTS; UNITED STATES; WORCESTER [MASSACHUSETTS];

EID: 84859592204     PISSN: 09537325     EISSN: 14653990     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09537325.2012.663964     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. Argyris, C. and Schön, M. 1978. Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
2. Bijker, Wiebe E., Hughes, T. P. and Pinch, T. J. 1987. The social construction of technological systems: New directions in the sociology and history of technology, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
3. Blasnik, M. From audit to retrofit: Analysis of recent experiences. Presentation at the Built Energy Annual Conference of NESEA. Boston, MA March 5-10
4. Brown, H. S., Vergragt, P., Green, K. and Berchicci, L. 2003. Learning for sustainability transition through bounded socio-technical experiments in personal mobility. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 15: 291-315.
5. Brown, H. S. and Vergragt, P. J. 2008. Bounded socio-technical experiments as agents of systemic change: The case of a zero-energy residential building. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 75: 107-130.
6. Brown, H. S. and Vergragt, P. J. 2012. "Grassroots innovations and socio-technical regime change: Towards a systemic view of energy retrofitting of the residential housing stock". In Creating a sustainable economy. An institutional/evolutionary approach to environmental policy, Abingdon, UK: Routledge. forthcoming.
7. Doyle, K. and Co-Chair, of New England Energy Council. Presentation at the Built Energy Annual Conference of NESEA. March5-102009. Boston, MA
8. Energy Information Administration (EIA). 2006. Emissions of greenhouse gases in the United States, Washington, DC: DOE/EIA-0579.
9. Fischer, F. 1995. Evaluating public policy, Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
10. Fuller, M. C., Campani P, S. and Kammen, D. 2009. Toward a low carbon economy: Municipal financing for energy efficiency and solar power. Environment, 51: 22-32.
11. Geels, F. W. 2005. The dynamics of transitions in socio-technical systems: A multilevel analysis of the transition pathway from horse-drawn carriage to automobiles (1860-1930). Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 17: 445-476.
12. Geels, F. and Schot, J. 2007. Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways. Research Policy, 36: 399-417.
13. Guy, S. and Moore, S. 2005. Sustainable architectures: Critical explorations of green buiding practice in Europe and North America, Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
14. Harney, K. 2009. "Energy efficiency: HUD secretary pushes mortgage incentives for low use homes". In Los Angeles Times 13 April
15. Hegger, Dries L.T., van Vliet, Jenneke and van Vliet, B. J.M. 2007. Niche management and its contribution to regime change: The case of innovation in sanitation. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 19: 729-746.
16. Hielscher, S., Seyfang, G. and Smith, A. 2012. "Grassroots innovations for sustainable energy: Growing alternative consumption practices through civil society movements?". In Sustainable lifestyles in a new economy: Ecological macroeconomics; socio-technical transitions, and social practices, Edited by: Cohen, M., Brown, H. S. and Vergragt, P. J. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. forthcoming.
17. Hoogma, R., Kemp, R., Schot, J. and Truffer, B. 2002. Experimenting for sustainable transport. The approach of strategic niche management, London: Spon Press.
18. Keohane, R. O. and Nye, J. S. 1989. Power and interdependence, 2, Boston, MA: Scott, Forsman.
19. LBNL. 2010. Driving demand for home energy improvements: Motivating residential customers to invest in comprehensive upgrades that eliminate energy waste, avoid high bills, and spurt the economy, Berkeley, CA: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Environmental Technology Division. LBNL-3960E
20. Magnant, J. Bridging the niche with the mainstream: The case of zero energy single family housing development in Townsend, Massachusetts. Final Paper for Master's of Arts Degree, Environmental Science and Policy Program. Worcester, MA, USA: Clark University.
21. Nisbet, M. 2009. Communicating climate change: Why frames matter for public engagement. Environment, 51: 12-23.
22. Polin, R., Garret-Peltier, H., Heintz, J. and Scharber, H. 2008. Green recover: A program to create good jobs and start building a low carbon economy, Amherst, MA: PERI, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Available at http://www.peri.umass.edu/green_recovery
23. Raven, R. P.J.M. 2005. Strategic niche management for biomass: A comparative study on the experimental introduction of bioenergy technologies in the Netherlands and Denmark, Eindhoven: Eindhoven University Press. (republished in 2008 by VDM Verlag, Saarbrucken).
24. Rip, A., Joly, P.-B. and Callon, M. 2010. "Reinventing innovation". In Governance and innovation: Firms, clusters, and institutions in a changing setting, Edited by: Arentsen, Maarten. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
25. Rotmans, J., Kemp, R. and van Asselt, M. 2001. More evolution than revolution: Transition management in public policy. Foresight, 3(1): 15-31.
26. Sabatier, P. 1999. Theories of the policy process, Edited by: Sabatier, P. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
27. Schön, D. A. 1983. The reflective practitioner, how professionals think in action, New York: Basic Books.
28. Schön, D. A. and Rein, M. 1994. "Towards the resolution of intractable policy controversies". In Frame reflection, New York: Basic Books.
29. Schot, J. and Rip, A. 1996. The past and future of constructive technology assessment. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 54: 251-268.
30. Senge, P. M. 1990. Building learning organizations. Sloan Management Review, 32(1): 7-23.
31. Seyfang, G. and Smith, A. 2007. Grassroots innovations for sustainable development: Towards a new research and policy agenda. Environmental Politics, 16: 584-603.
32. Seyfang, G. 2009. The new economics of sustainable consumption: Seeds of change, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave McMillan.
33. Sitkin, S. B. 1992. Learning through failure: The strategy of small losses. Research in Organizational Behavior, 14: 231-266.
34. Smith, A. 2007. Translating sustainabilities between green niches and socio-technical regimes. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 19: 427-450.
35. Stephens, J. and McCauley, S. 2012. "Clusters in transition: Analysis of a sustainable energy cluster initiative in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA". In Sustainable lifestyles in a new economy: Ecological macroeconomics; socio-technical transitions, and social practices, Edited by: Cohen, M., Brown, H. S. and Vergragt, P. J. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. forthcoming.
36. USDOE Building Technologies Program. 2007. Buildings energy data book, Washington, DC: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy. Section 1.1, Buildings Sector Energy Consumption.
37. Van Nostrand, J. M. 2011. Legal issues in financing energy efficiency: Creative solutions for funding the initial capital costs of investments in energy efficiency measures. Journal of Energy and Environmental Law, Winter: 1-16.
38. Vergragt, P. J. and Brown, H. S. 2007. Sustainable mobility: From technological innovation to social learning. Journal of Cleaner Production, 15: 1104-1115.
39. Verheul, H. and Vergragt, P. J. 1995. Social experiments in the development of environmental technology: A bottom-up perspective. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 7: 315-326.
40. Wenger, E. 1998. Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
41. Wenger, E. 2000. Communities of practice as social learning systems. Organization, 7: 225-246.
42. Wildawski, A. 1990. Choosing preferences by constructing institutions: A cultural theory of preference formation. American Political Science Review, 81: 3-21.