The role of lock-in mechanisms in transition processes: The case of energy for road transport

By Antje Klitkou, Simon Bolwig, Teis Hansen, Nina Wessberg. 2015

313 citations recorded by the source corpus.

a b s t r a c t This paper revisits the theoretical concepts of lock-in mechanisms to analyse transition processes in energy production and road transportation in the Nordic countries, focussing on three technology platforms: advanced biofuels, e-mobility and hydrogen and fuel cell electrical vehicles. The paper is based on a comparative analysis of case studies. The main lock-in mechanisms analysed are learning effects, economies of scale, economies of scope, network externalities, informational increasing returns, technologi- cal interrelatedness, collective action, institutional learning effects and the differentiation of power. We show that very different path dependencies have been reinforced by the lock-in mechanisms. Hence, the characteristics of existing regimes set the preconditions for the development of new transition pathways. The incumbent socio-technical regime is not just fossil-based, but may also include mature niches specialised in the exploitation of renew- able sources. This implies a need to distinguish between lock-in mechanisms favouring the old fossil-based regime, well-established (mature) renewable energy niches, or new pathways.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Global and Planetary Change, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f79959c87c3a3a58699e3cf68a948638bf1928e8

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Citations in the corpus

Direct or indirect electrification? A review of heat generation and road transport decarbonisation scenarios for Germany 2050 (2019, background): “positive feedbacks on a selected technology even though it might be suboptimal [37].”
The Role of Trials and Demonstration Projects in the Development of a Sustainable Bioeconomy (2017, background): “Currently, policy support for innovation in the bioeconomy do often not include such demand-side instruments, which are nevertheless of central importance for the commercialisation of new bio-based products [51].”
Stranded assets and stranded resources: Implications for climate change mitigation and global sustainable development (2019, background): “adoption of a selected technology’ [77] – refer to the dominance, and the deep interdependence, of technological infrastructures with carbonintensive technologies [79] inhibiting the transition to low-carbon technologies.”
Policy mixes for incumbency: Exploring the destructive recreation of renewable energy, shale gas ‘fracking,’ and nuclear power in the United Kingdom (2017, unknown): “…institutional, and scientific ‘regime’ constituted by certain ‘rules of the game’ in which existing technologies benefit from ‘economies of scale’ (Klitkou et al. 2015) and ‘increasing returns’ (Arthur 1989), leading to ‘path dependency’ (David 1989) and incremental innovation as the…”
Revisiting carbon lock-in in energy systems: Explaining the perpetuation of coal power in Japan (2020, background): “Learning curves and economies of scale are a major cause of increasing returns as the costs of technology production or utilisation fall over time while quality, reliability and expertise all increase [20,30,58].”