Journal article
Accelerating just energy transitions in practice: Policy implementation and innovation funding at the United States Department of Energy
Energy research & social science, v 127, 104319
01 Sep 2025
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
How can governmental funding agencies that fund energy technology innovation incorporate values like justice into decision-making? While the energy transitions literature advances both participatory and expertise-driven approaches to addressing the challenge of disbursing large amounts of funding to accelerate just energy transitions, little is known about how decision-making infrastructures at technology innovation offices are equipped to address the task. Looking at the case of the Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) in the US Department of Energy (DOE), we studied—using expert interviews and document analysis—how the office navigated tradeoffs between speed and justice in their funding instrument design and disbursement. Using a framework, we designed based on public value and justice literature, we found procedural bottlenecks and epistemic glass ceilings that limited WPTO in being able to incorporate values of justice in its decision-making. WPTO simply did not have sufficient capabilities to translate policy into strong outcomes. Making just energy transitions a reality is thus more than the design of the “right” policies (like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in the U.S. or the European Green Deal) and overcoming the resistance to change bureaucracies may have. The policy and academic literature can better account for the need for having organizations that are capable of handling both the increased workload and changes in often ossified processes that come with just energy transitions.
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Details
- Title
- Accelerating just energy transitions in practice: Policy implementation and innovation funding at the United States Department of Energy
- Creators
- Matthias Galan (Corresponding Author) - Arizona State UniversityGwen Ottinger - Drexel UniversityDarshan M.A. Karwat - Arizona State University
- Publication Details
- Energy research & social science, v 127, 104319
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Number of pages
- 15
- Grant note
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (http://data.elsevier.com/vocabulary/SciValFunders/100006233) DOE DE-AC36-08G028308 / National Renewable Energy Laboratory (http://data.elsevier.com/vocabulary/SciValFunders/100006233) U.S. government Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://data.elsevier.com/vocabulary/SciValFunders/100006134)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Politics; Center for Public Policy; Center for Science, Technology, and Society
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001569628900001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105015172005
- Other Identifier
- 991022094665104721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Environmental Studies
- Green & Sustainable Science & Technology