ABSTRACT
Renewable energy plays an important role not only in the transition to a less environmentally damaging energy system but also in democratization of that system. Key legislation, including the 2008 Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI), set ambitious goals for Hawaii to minimize dependence on fossil fuels for electricity and transportation and achieve 100% clean energy by 2045. The 2016 Hawaii Power Summit convened in Honolulu, Hawaii, to address opportunities and tackle challenges associated with reaching the 2045 goal. The Power Summit provides a case for examining energy professionals’ discourse about how the initiative might contribute to a more democratic energy system. Transcripts of energy professionals’ presentations were analyzed using the Socio-Political Evaluation of Energy Deployment (SPEED) Framework to identify and analyze sociotechnical relationships that dominated professional discourse. This restrained us from ignoring any of the multiple social functions included in sociotechnical change, as we probed energy professionals’ presumptions about practices of energy democracy they imagined to be possible. Our findings provide insight into challenges and opportunities of empowering a broader suite of participants to become active contributors in decisions about energy systems.
