ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part discusses the Hungarian energy sector on the eve of transition as strongly centralised, having old and out-dated capital stock, and technology based on the extensive use of labour and fuel, much of the latter imported from Russia. Energy supply at low prices was considered a social good, and making changes in pricing was therefore a touchy issue. The part shows how, in the Hungarian electricity sector, the market economic discourse has been able to link lines of action which were otherwise likely to be incompatible. It analyses changes in the East German energy system after 1990, when the two Germanys were united. The part also analyses how specific clusters of techniques that are not environmentally optimal are being favoured by the new owners of energy production systems, techniques which do not fundamentally differ from the old East German ones.
