Innovation Diffusion and Political Control of Energy Technologies

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XXII

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2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 1-11

3. The PET-System - A Theoretical and Methodological Approach to Innovation Diffusion and Political Control

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13

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   2. Theoretical Approaches to Technological Change and Political Control Across Disciplines

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 15-76

   3. The PET-System: An Integrated Approach to Innovation Diffusion and Political Control

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 77-112

   4. A General Methodology for Studying Innovation Diffusion and Political Control

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 113-127

4. Introduction of the Problem Area and Specification of the Methodology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 129-130

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   2. Issues of Energy Supply and Cogeneration

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 131-182

   3. Determinants of CHP-Diffusion

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 183-200

   4. Methodological Transfer - From the General Approach to the Empirical Investigation

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 201-234

5. The Empirical Account: Cogeneration in the UK and Germany from the Early 80s to the Middle of the 90s

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 235-235

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   2. Liberalisation of Energy Supply in the UK

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 237-293

   3. Transforming the Monopoly - CHP in Germany

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 295-362

   4. Comparison of the Developments in the UK and Germany

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 363-394

6. Concluding Remarks on Cogeneration, Political Control and the PET-Approach

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 395-395

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   2. Conclusions

      • Karl Matthias Weber

      Pages 397-414

7. Back Matter

   Pages 415-487

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Two general questions stood at the beginning of this PhD-thesis, namely: • What are the mechanisms which lead to the emergence and establishment of new technologies? • How can this process of technological change be influenced politically? In this sense, conceptual and theoretical interests were the early driving forces of the research work. This is also reflected in the considerable attention paid to the nature of technological change and political control. The result is an holistic per­ spective which builds on inputs from different disciplines and aims at dynamic interpretation. This, however, created a severe methodological problem: How could such a comprehensive perspective be used constructively? To develop this link between theory and forward-looking, policy-oriented analysis, and to devise a methodology which showed explicitly how this approach could be used in a con­ structive way were in fact the major challenges of this research project. The appli­ cation to the example of combined heat and power generation, and the comparison of the developments in the UK and in Germany serve the purpose to demonstrate how this approach and methodology can be implemented in practice. These as­ pects were also of particular interest to the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), one ofthe institutes of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, where most of the research work reported in this PhD-thesis was carried out.

• Energy Economics
• Energy Technologies
• Imitation
• Power Technology
• energy supply
• innovation

• Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Joint Research Centre European Commission, Sevilla, Spain

  Karl Matthias Weber

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