Another economy: towards a cultural dialectics between energy and society

The looming oil crisis, pollution, and climate change have pushed governments, corporations, and individuals to think of new policies, new objects/products and new manners to market them – usually under the label of “green economy” (or the shifting towards a sustainable economy).

The changes that are on the way as a result of the envisaged “green revolution” need a broad vision that couples the economy of energetic techniques with the related socio-cultural economy that is induced by, and at the same time reciprocally influences, the mere technical transformations.

Based on previous analysis of theories of socio-technological change and putting at its center the concept of subjectivation in social sciences, this article proposes a theoretical understanding of cultural shifts and their relationship with changes in the practices of production, transfer and use of energy.

First part presents a schema of subjectivation in triangulation, that links the biological level with the material culture and with the representational realm of normativities in our society. It will be developed through the example of electric vehicle as metaphor of the energetic transition. Through this understanding, second part deals with the modeling of the three items as a processual energetic system by using the concepts of surplus and expenditure. Within this frame, we show how disruptions in one of the poles of this model influences the others and bring about changes in the entire Anthropo-Social level. Third part proposes possible types of emerging subjectivities and advances the idea of extending the realm of consciousness to the energetic transfers and their potentiality.     

Asking about the future: methodological insights from energy biographies

Temporality is fundamental to qualitative longitudinal (QLL) research, inherent in the design of returning to participants over time, often to explore moments of change. Previous research has indicated that talking about the future can be difficult, yet there has been insufficient discussion of methodological developments to address these challenges. This paper presents insights from the Energy Biographies project, which has taken a QLL and multimodal approach to investigating how everyday energy use can be understood in relation to biographical pasts and imagined futures. In particular, we detail innovative techniques developed within the project (e.g. SMS photograph activities) to elicit data on anticipated futures, in ways that engender thinking about participants’ own biographical futures and wider societal changes. We conclude by considering some of the significant benefits and challenges such techniques present. These methodological insights have a wider relevance beyond the substantive topic for those interested in eliciting data about futures in qualitative research.     

盐化产业发展低碳经济的机制研究——以自贡市为例

盐化产业作为高能耗、高污染和高排放的行业,面临巨大的节能减排压力;发展低碳经济已经成为盐化产业可持续发展的首要任务。对低碳发展的机制进行评述,分析自贡市盐化产业碳排放的现状,提出政府需要构建发展低碳经济的引导机制、驱动机制、规制机制和补偿机制,分析碳交易市场构建需要建立的定价机制、交易机制和产权机制,阐述行业部门可以构建的锦标机制、集群机制、认证机制和协调机制,而企业则必须完善激励机制、创新机制和协作机制;并就自贡市盐化产业在政府、市场、行业和企业四个维度下发展低碳经济的十四种机制进行具体分析。     

上海生态文明建设的激励和约束机制研究

生态文明建设是一项系统工程,需要通过整体推进,构筑规划、建设、管理、技术、产业、社会和合作协同发展的综合体系。未来上海应以建立和完善市场机制为核心,以法律机制为前提,以政府监管机制为保障,以能力建设机制为基础,以社会参与机制为监督,按照"引逼结合、多方合力、突出重点、先行先试"的原则,加快上海生态文明建设机制创新。主要途径有:完善碳排放交易试点,建立长效市场机制;推进分布式能源应用,提高清洁能源比重;加快新能源汽车推广,优化交通能源结构;培育发展再制造产业,推广先进制造理念。     

基于功率约束及节点频谱选择的认知协同路由

为了提升认知无线网络的数据传输效率,优化节点能量负载,提出一种协同路由算法。基于覆盖与底层技术的协作设计一种协同网络架构,该架构针对网络频带表现多样化提供了一种新的频谱选择策略,提升频谱资源效用。结合协同网络频谱选择时的干扰特性,根据频谱、干扰和功率约束关系,提出最大化链路容量的频谱及节点功率分配方法。在协同路由设计上引入了频谱效用参数,参数的度量标准涉及节点剩余能量和链路容量,以优化路由节点能量负载和传输效率为目的。仿真对比结果表明,算法有效地利用信道接入机会进行数据转发,提高了传输效率,相比基于竞争进化算法的多播路由方法,数据包传递成功率提升了1．4％,平均网络吞吐量高出8．4％,平均节点剩余能量高出3．2％,在均衡节点负载上性能良好。     

Theorizing the social: Émile Durkheim's theory of force and energy

This paper offers a new interpretation of Émile Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) as the basis for reconsidering the Tarde–Durkheim debate of 1903 and the distinctions between a theory of social force and a theory of social assemblage. Resisting traditional interpretations of Durkheim's scientism, this essay traces how concepts of force and energy are centrally developed in Elementary Forms to draw new lines between epistemology to ontology for twentieth-century theory. I argue that Durkheim develops an ‘energetic epistemology’ that conceives of the human capacity for shared meaning as a product of invested energy in the form of continually enacted and evolving material practice, thought, and attention. According to Durkheim, when a member of a collective perceives a god or feels belief, he or she actually perceives the accumulated energy of on-going creation and maintenance of objects and ideas by members of a collective. Sacred objects, images, and ideas bear the trace of collective energy the more they are carefully crafted, maintained in spaces that are specially arranged, and written into behavioural codes. This reading of Durkheim allows us to consider him in a lineage of social constructivists and, particularly, in relation to Ludwik Fleck, who has been largely confined to different theoretical discussions when his contributions to sociology have been acknowledged at all. By reconsidering Durkheim, we have occasion to rethink his sociology and understand how he redrew the lines between thought and action, between epistemology and ontology, through the material framework of energy and force.     

中亚石油地缘政治与新疆建设能源安全大通道探析

中亚地区丰富的油气资源储量,被称为“21世纪的战略能源基地”,中亚围绕着石油为主的地缘政治竞争日趋激烈。积极拓展能源进口渠道,加快能源资源开发建设、建立我国陆上能源安全大通道成为维护我国能源安全的当务之急。新疆的地缘与资源优势决定了新疆是中国21世纪建立陆上能源安全大通道的重要战略区域,也是中国可持续发展的战略接替区。     

能源消耗、碳排放和经济增长关系的实证研究——以河南省为例

结合河南省1978--2010年间的样本数据,采用协整分析、VECM模型和格兰杰因果检验等方法,实证分析了能源消耗、碳排放和经济增长三者之间的关系。结果表明,能源消耗、碳排放和经济增长三者之间具有长期均衡关系,碳排放与能源消耗和经济增长之间存在单向的格兰杰因果关系,能源消耗与经济增长之间具有双向因果关系。     

低碳经济发展模式下浙江产业发展路径选择

低碳经济是在较高的经济发展水平上,实现碳排放量比较低的经济形态。在全球的大背景下,发展低碳经济有可能演变成未来全球社会经济发展的主流模式。向低碳经济发展模式转型将通过低碳经济发展所带来的产业外延扩张和产业结构优化,带动经济总量的扩张和经济结构的调整,从根本上、全局上深刻影响社会经济的未来发展战略及路径。