The Great Reconfiguration: A Socio-Technical Analysis of Low-Carbon Transitions in UK Electricity, Heat, and Mobility Systems

This book is intended for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners interested in the dynamics and governance of low-carbon transitions. Drawing on the Multi-Level Perspective, it develops a whole system reconfiguration approach that explains how the incorporation of multiple innovations can cumulatively reconfigure existing systems. The book focuses on UK electricity, heat, and mobility systems, and it systematically analyses interactions between radical niche-innovations and existing (sub)systems across techno-economic, policy, and actor dimensions in the past three decades. Comparative analysis explains why the unfolding low-carbon transitions in these three systems vary in speed, scope, and depth. It evaluates to what degree these transitions qualify as Great Reconfigurations and assesses the future potential for, and barriers to, deeper low-carbon system transitions. Generalising across these systems, broader lessons are developed about the roles of incumbent firms, governance and politics, user engagement, wider public, and civil society organisations. "One of the most analytically rich and robust assessments of low-carbon transitions I have ever seen, with an excellent application to various sectors in the United Kingdom. The comparative treatment of heat, electricity, and mobility is compelling and apt, the connections to broader issues of climate governance or system reconfiguration strong. Ground-breaking in its conceptualising but down-to-earth in its policy implications, I recommend this for students and professional researchers alike." Benjamin K. Sovacool, University of Sussex, United Kingdom