trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

AFFECTING THE SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATIONACCEPTANCE THROUGH SYSTEMATIC MAPPING ANDRE-EMPLOYING OF ACTORS, THE CASE OF ARENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTAnastasia Tsvetkova a,b , Magnus Gustafsson a,b and Krys Markowski ca Åbo Akademi University, Industrial Management, Finlandb PBI Research Institute for Project-Based Industry, Finlandc Groupe ESIEE - Université de Paris Est, FranceABSTRACT – Despite the publicly recognised need to switch to renewable energy for the sake ofsustainability and the existence of a solid technical base for that, the efforts to implement suchsolutions often fail due to the social and business sector resistance, or an unfavourable regulatoryenvironment. However, history shows that most innovations have to undergo transformations untilthey are accepted. The paper presents the method for systematically tracking and managing thefactors affecting the success of renewable energy projects. The method is based on actor-networktheory, which is intended for exploring the history of innovations’ acceptance by mapping thecontroversies in the networks consisting of human and non-human actors and their relations. It isproposed in the paper that such mapping is an effective tool for assessing the current state ofinnovative renewable energy projects and bringing them forward to the desired outcome. It is to bereached by systematically tracking the actors in the programme, i.e. the necessary people, technologiesand other factors substituting the solution, and the anti-programme, i.e. the human and non-humanactors preventing the solution implementation project from success, and attempting to enrol the latterinto the programme of the project or neutralise them.1. Introduction and BackgroundSustainable development and renewable energyThe notion of sustainable development calls for meeting the needs of the present generation whileensuring that the future generations will be able to meet their needs as well (Purvis and Grainger, 2004).Shortly, this implies thoughtful and reasonable resource expenditure, responsibility for current actionswhile sustaining the technological progress, wealth creation and high level of life. The three dimensionsor pillars of sustainability: economical, environmental and social (Adams, 2006), reflect the need for447