Table 7 Theme 7 Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) priority questions.
Question no. | Agreed SSH priority question |
|---|---|
87 | How can transdisciplinary approaches provide more nuanced understandings of ‘rebound effects’ of energy efficiency interventions (including effects on social practices, and on cultural and organisational dynamics); and how can such approaches inform more effective new policies and measures? |
88 | How can various ‘rebound effects’ or unintended consequences resulting from increasing energy efficiency be minimised through technological design, new policies, alignment with particular contextual conditions, or even the formulation of alternative approaches to reducing energy demand? |
89 | How does energy efficiency interact with other policy areas, such as urban planning, trade, gender, finance, labour policies, etc.; and in what ways can the promotion of other policy agendas conflict with energy efficiency goals? |
90 | How does transformation in various sociotechnical systems (e.g., housing, transport, agriculture, education, finance, etc.) affect change in the energy system; and what are the implications for the alternative framings of energy efficiency? |
91 | What is the degree of consistency between energy efficiency policies, energy market policies, environmental policies, welfare policies, economic and financial policies, across different countries; and how should this consistency be defined and measured? |
92 | How can energy efficiency policymaking and other environmental policymaking (regarding, e.g., climate adaptation, circular economy) be linked to create synergies for climate protection; and how can such approaches be mainstreamed? |
93 | How do new energy services and accompanying ICT platforms contribute to energy efficiency at societal scales; and what are the implications for inequalities; and how can policy address these? |
94 | How can Social Sciences and Humanities contribute to better qualifying and quantifying the non-energy-related benefits of energy efficiency; and how can this be translated into better Monitoring and Evaluation tools for policymakers? |
95 | How can energy efficiency objectives be aligned with public health objectives; for example, how can new packaging designs respect both public health and safety and energy efficiency aims? |
96 | What are the relationships between energy efficiency and healthy and productive indoor environments; and how can human-building interactions be improved to optimise all these outcomes? |
97 | What are the relationships between energy efficiency, energy demand and human well-being; and what roles could energy efficiency and energy sufficiency play in policy interventions to tackle inequalities in well-being? |
98 | What are the savings potentials of energy sufficiency initiatives across different (interconnected) sectors; and what are the suitable tools and possible business models to tap these potentials? |
99 | How do different forms of maintenance—for example, processes for monitoring, repairing and upgrading infrastructures—shape energy efficiency outcomes over long timescales? |
100 | How do different actors perceive and understand the interactions between energy efficiency and other policy agendas? |
