The task of substituting the entire global fossil-fueled energy system by renewables is increasingly discussed in the energy literature, but in the social sciences academy it is widely viewed as impossibly large within any meaningful timeframe. In this article we argue that such pessimism is...

The shift to renewable energy options and low-carbon technologies, in response to the concerns over energy security and climate change, is proceeding more slowly than many would like. The usual argument against rapid deployment of new technologies is the costs imposed on the economy, commonly...

A new business model for accelerating the introduction of electric vehicles into private transport systems involves the provision by an Electric Recharge Grid Operator (ERGO) of an intelligent rechargeable network in advance of the vehicles themselves. The ERGO business model creates a market...

China is transforming itself into the workshop of the world, building an export-oriented national production system linked by global value chains to the world's leading economies. But to what extent is it laying the foundations for moving from imitation to innovation? In this first study of...

How are biofuels to be certified as produced in a sustainable and responsible fashion? In the global debate over this issue, one party to the proceedings seems rarely to be mentioned--namely the commodities exchanges through which a global biofuels market is being created. In this contribution,...

Current Kyoto-based approaches to reducing the earth's greenhouse gas problem involve looking for ways to reduce emissions. But these are palliative at best, and at worst will allow the problem to get out of hand. It is only through sequestration of atmospheric carbon that the problem can be...