From Perception to Policy to Behavior: Governing Emerging Distributed Energy Systems

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Emerging technologies, such as community microgrids, transactive energy systems (TES), and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, offer new opportunities to enhance resilience and decarbonization of energy systems. However, their real-world impacts depend not only on  technical performance, but also on public perception, institutional arrangements, and behavioral responses. This panel brings together two qualitative studies and one quantitative analysis to provide complementary, policy-relevant evidence on these dimensions across a range of distributed energy and electrification technologies.The first paper uses qualitative focus group methods to examine how citizens and experts perceive community microgrids. It identifies both shared priorities and key divergences in how stakeholders understand the benefits, risks, and policy challenges of microgrid deployment. The findings highlight the importance of communication, community engagement, and energy justice in shaping socially acceptable and locally responsive energy solutions.The second paper also adopts a qualitative approach, using comparative case studies and stakeholder interviews to analyze how institutional arrangements shape the adoption of transactive energy systems by Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs). It identifies key institutional drivers and barriers, including regulatory authority, market incentives, and stakeholder relationships, that influence whether TES is viewed as feasible and desirable energy solutions in practice. This paper underscores the importance of governance structures in enabling or constraining the deployment of clean energy technological innovations.Complementing these qualitative insights, the third paper provides quantitative evidence on how the adoption of private EV charging infrastructure influences travel behavior and fuel use. Using a novel census tract-year panel dataset for California, it finds private EV charging infrastructure adoption reduces both gasoline dependence and overall mobility. The results demonstrate how household adoption of charging infrastructure can lead to changes in travel patterns and energy-use outcomes.Together, these papers illustrate that clean energy transition is a multi-level socio-technical process in which technological change is mediated by perceptions, institutions and behavior. By combining qualitative insights on stakeholder perspectives and institutional context with quantitative analysis of behavioral responses, the panel offers a comprehensive understanding of how emerging energy technologies are adopted and experienced in practice. The findings provide actionable insights for policymakers seeking to design policies that support a resilient, efficient and equitable energy transition.

Policy Area

• Natural Resource, Energy, and Environmental Policy

Chair

• Benjamin Sovacool, Boston University

Discussant

• Gabriel Chan, University of Minnesota

Organizer

• Shan Zhou, Purdue University

Individual Presentations

• Incorporating Citizen and Expert Inputs into Community Microgrid Development: Insights from Focus Group Studies - Presenting Author: Yu Wang, Iowa State University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Elizabeth J. Wilson, Aalto University FINLAND

• Governing Transactive Energy: Institutional Drivers and Barriers for Community Choice Aggregators - Presenting Author: Tian Tang, Florida State University

• Policy Knowledge and Public Acceptance of Climate Policy Costs: Evidence from South Korea - Presenting Author: Junghwa Choi, University of Nebraska-Omaha