Publications
Renner, Ansel
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2021, ISBN: 9788449097935.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Biophysical economics, Societal metabolism, sustainability
@phdthesis{Renner2021b,
title = {Supercritical Sustainability. A Relational Theory of Social-Ecological Systems with Lessons from a Disenfranchised European Primary Sector},
author = {Ansel Renner},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10803/671298},
isbn = {9788449097935},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-01-01},
pages = {171},
school = {Universitat Aut\`{o}noma de Barcelona},
abstract = {From biodiversity loss to soil degradation to pollution of water bodies, our life support systems are in decline. Spaceship Earth is in trouble. We are trouble. Sustainability science has emerged in response, offering to model our way to safety. The spirit of modeling efforts in the sustainability science is, however, dominated by notions of prediction and optimization. While prediction and optimization have proven extremely successful in other domains, leading to the creation of rockets and smartphones and so forth, they fail to grasp the essential intangibilities of social-ecological systems. They have effectively colonized the future, supporting a regime of techno-scientific promises and comforting ex-post motives. This dissertation explores an alternative approach to sustainability science, one based on anticipation studies and the idea of social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems. A thorough revision of the conceptual basis of modeling for sustainability is made, based on insights from societal metabolism and relational biology. That revision is then used to inform the characterization of social-economic systems as metabolic-repair systems, meaning organisms. New light is thereby shed on global megatrends of globalization and urbanization, through which societies are losing control over their identities. Insights on modeling provided by societal metabolism and relational biology are then crossed with insights from philosophy of mind and philosophy of language to re-conceptualize the architecture of social-ecological knowledge spaces, within which models exist. An emphasis is made on the role of justification, explanation and normative narratives in creating knowledge space bounds and breaking impredicativities. Having established a robust conceptual basis, two case studies are presented. The first, a quantitative storytelling on the quick deployment of alternative sources of electrical energy to decarbonize the economy, highlights several shortcomings of current governance efforts. It is asserted, for example, that the hasty way energy storage is considered in contemporary energy transition discussions is leading society towards a grave situation of structural-functional mismatch. The second case study, a quantitative storytelling on agricultural re-internalization, highlights a set of security concerns associated with the extreme levels of agricultural externalization found in modern social-economic systems. Neither of the quantitative storytellings presented in this dissertation make any attempt to predict the future. Their offering is as learning-type storylines, helping society clarify its vision of a desirable future. Indeed, although critical of them, none of the insights in this dissertation are arguments for the elimination of conventional approaches to modeling. This dissertation is merely an effort to break the hegemony of predictivity and optimizability, to complement those ideas with notions of impredicativity. A paradigm of supercritical sustainability is ultimately proposed, being a mode of sustainability where the self-referentiality of complex systems is understood to be a virtuous cycle, not a vicious one. Supercritical sustainability re-opens discussion of the ruptured future, providing insights into the deliberative creation of extensible social-ecological models in support of responsible development pathways.},
keywords = {Biophysical economics, Societal metabolism, sustainability},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
From biodiversity loss to soil degradation to pollution of water bodies, our life support systems are in decline. Spaceship Earth is in trouble. We are trouble. Sustainability science has emerged in response, offering to model our way to safety. The spirit of modeling efforts in the sustainability science is, however, dominated by notions of prediction and optimization. While prediction and optimization have proven extremely successful in other domains, leading to the creation of rockets and smartphones and so forth, they fail to grasp the essential intangibilities of social-ecological systems. They have effectively colonized the future, supporting a regime of techno-scientific promises and comforting ex-post motives. This dissertation explores an alternative approach to sustainability science, one based on anticipation studies and the idea of social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems. A thorough revision of the conceptual basis of modeling for sustainability is made, based on insights from societal metabolism and relational biology. That revision is then used to inform the characterization of social-economic systems as metabolic-repair systems, meaning organisms. New light is thereby shed on global megatrends of globalization and urbanization, through which societies are losing control over their identities. Insights on modeling provided by societal metabolism and relational biology are then crossed with insights from philosophy of mind and philosophy of language to re-conceptualize the architecture of social-ecological knowledge spaces, within which models exist. An emphasis is made on the role of justification, explanation and normative narratives in creating knowledge space bounds and breaking impredicativities. Having established a robust conceptual basis, two case studies are presented. The first, a quantitative storytelling on the quick deployment of alternative sources of electrical energy to decarbonize the economy, highlights several shortcomings of current governance efforts. It is asserted, for example, that the hasty way energy storage is considered in contemporary energy transition discussions is leading society towards a grave situation of structural-functional mismatch. The second case study, a quantitative storytelling on agricultural re-internalization, highlights a set of security concerns associated with the extreme levels of agricultural externalization found in modern social-economic systems. Neither of the quantitative storytellings presented in this dissertation make any attempt to predict the future. Their offering is as learning-type storylines, helping society clarify its vision of a desirable future. Indeed, although critical of them, none of the insights in this dissertation are arguments for the elimination of conventional approaches to modeling. This dissertation is merely an effort to break the hegemony of predictivity and optimizability, to complement those ideas with notions of impredicativity. A paradigm of supercritical sustainability is ultimately proposed, being a mode of sustainability where the self-referentiality of complex systems is understood to be a virtuous cycle, not a vicious one. Supercritical sustainability re-opens discussion of the ruptured future, providing insights into the deliberative creation of extensible social-ecological models in support of responsible development pathways.
A “Grammar” for assessing the performance of power-supply systems: Comparing nuclear energy to fossil energy Journal Article
Diaz-Maurin, François; Giampietro, Mario
In: Energy, 49 (1), pp. 162–177, 2013, ISSN: 03605442.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Biophysical economics, Fossil energy, Integrated analysis, Nuclear energy, Power generation, Power-supply systems
@article{Diaz-Maurin2013,
title = {A “Grammar” for assessing the performance of power-supply systems: Comparing nuclear energy to fossil energy},
author = {Fran\c{c}ois Diaz-Maurin and Mario Giampietro},
url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0360544212008754},
doi = {10.1016/j.energy.2012.11.014},
issn = {03605442},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-01-01},
journal = {Energy},
volume = {49},
number = {1},
pages = {162--177},
abstract = {This article illustrates an innovative approach for the characterization and comparison of the performance of power-supply systems. The concept of 'grammar' forces to declare the pre-analytical decisions about: (i) semantic and formal categories used for the accounting - primary energy sources (PES), energy carriers (EC), and production factors; (ii) the set of functional and structural elements of the power-supply system included in the analysis. After having tamed the systemic ambiguity associated with energy accounting, it becomes possible to generate a double assessment referring to: (i) external constraints - the consumption of PES and the generation of waste and pollution; and (ii) internal constraints - the requirements of production factors such as human labor, power capacity, internal consumption of EC for making EC. The case study provided compares the production of EC (electricity) with " nuclear energy" and " fossil energy" When considering internal constraints, nuclear energy requires about twice as much power capacity (5.9-9.5 kW/GWh vs. 2.6-2.9 kW/GWh) and 5-8 times more labor (570-640 h/GWh vs. 80-115 h/GWh). Things do not improve for nuclear energy when looking at external constraints - e.g. the relative scarcity of PES. This may explain the difficulties faced by nuclear energy to gain interest from investors. textcopyright 2012 Elsevier Ltd.},
keywords = {Biophysical economics, Fossil energy, Integrated analysis, Nuclear energy, Power generation, Power-supply systems},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article illustrates an innovative approach for the characterization and comparison of the performance of power-supply systems. The concept of 'grammar' forces to declare the pre-analytical decisions about: (i) semantic and formal categories used for the accounting - primary energy sources (PES), energy carriers (EC), and production factors; (ii) the set of functional and structural elements of the power-supply system included in the analysis. After having tamed the systemic ambiguity associated with energy accounting, it becomes possible to generate a double assessment referring to: (i) external constraints - the consumption of PES and the generation of waste and pollution; and (ii) internal constraints - the requirements of production factors such as human labor, power capacity, internal consumption of EC for making EC. The case study provided compares the production of EC (electricity) with " nuclear energy" and " fossil energy" When considering internal constraints, nuclear energy requires about twice as much power capacity (5.9-9.5 kW/GWh vs. 2.6-2.9 kW/GWh) and 5-8 times more labor (570-640 h/GWh vs. 80-115 h/GWh). Things do not improve for nuclear energy when looking at external constraints - e.g. the relative scarcity of PES. This may explain the difficulties faced by nuclear energy to gain interest from investors. textcopyright 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
AGAUR Grant ID 2017 SGR 230 / Copyright © 2023