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Diagnosing Barriers and Enablers for the Flemish Energy Transition

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  • Erik Laes

    (VITO Transition Platform, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
    Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 Eindhoven, The Netherlands)

  • Pieter Valkering

    (VITO/EnergyVille, Thor Park 8310, 3600 Genk, Belgium)

  • Yves De Weerdt

    (VITO Transition Platform, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium)

Abstract

Industrialised economies are currently confronted with the challenge of transitioning to a low-carbon energy system. Starting from the insight that ‘system innovation’ rather than incremental change is needed, we diagnose barriers and enablers for energy system transformation for the case of Flanders (Belgium). We thereby combine multiple perspectives: a techno-economic perspective to derive a technology-based vision on the energy transition, a technology innovation perspective to assess barriers and enablers regarding the upscaling of technological niche-innovations, and a system innovation perspective to address fundamental barriers and enablers associated with transformative system change. We highlight the complementary features of the three perspectives and describe how insights can feed into the development of energy transition pathways.

Suggested Citation

  • Erik Laes & Pieter Valkering & Yves De Weerdt, 2019. "Diagnosing Barriers and Enablers for the Flemish Energy Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-19, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:20:p:5558-:d:274554
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