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Title: Stories about ourselves: How national narratives influence the diffusion of large-scale energy technologies

Journal Article · · Energy Research and Social Science
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [2]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Maryland School of Public Policy
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Examining past examples of rapid, transformational changes in energy technologies could help governments understand the factors associated with such transitions. We used an existing dataset to assess government strategies to connect new energy technologies with national narratives. Analyzing the diffusion stories told by experts, we demonstrate how governments connected the new technologies with their national narratives. The United States government supported the development of nuclear power after World War II with the national narrative that the United States was destined to improve creation, increasing the potential of raw materials exponentially for the nation’s good (“atoms for peace,” electricity “too cheap to meter”). In Brazil, the development of sugar cane ethanol was supported by the government’s invoking the national narrative of suffering leading to knowledge and redemption, coupled with the quest for improved societal well-being (technological development to produce ethanol and employment for farmers). In Sweden, biomass energy was tied to the national narrative of local control, as well as love of nature and tradition (the use of natural products). We found strong evidence that the pairing of technological transformations with national narratives facilitated the successful development and implementation of these major energy technologies in the three cases analyzed here.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1368405
Journal Information:
Energy Research and Social Science, Vol. 31; ISSN 2214-6296
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (6)

Normative power Europe and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the EU’s peacebuilding narrative meets local narratives journal July 2019
Extraction and development: fossil fuel production narratives and counternarratives in Colombia journal February 2020
Portuguese media representations of nuclear facilities in Almaraz, Spain: beyond borders and risk perception (Representaciones en los medios portugueses de las plantas nucleares en Almaraz, España: más allá de las fronteras y la percepción del riesgo) journal October 2019
Key-Narratives of Microalgae Nutrition: Exploring futures through a public Delphi survey in Germany journal November 2019
A critical discussion of research on the social acceptance of renewable energy generation and associated infrastructures and an agenda for the future journal December 2017
Extraction and development: fossil fuel production narratives and counternarratives in Colombia text January 2020

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Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
National narratives
Energy technologies
Technological transformations