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Energy Efficiency as a Wicked Problem

Author

Listed:
  • Patrik Thollander

    (Division of Energy Systems, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping 581 83, Sweden
    Department of Building, Energy and Environment Engineering, University of Gävle, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden)

  • Jenny Palm

    (IIIEE, International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University, 223 50 Lund, Sweden)

  • Johan Hedbrant

    (Division of Applied Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden)

Abstract

Together with increased shares of renewable energy supply, improved energy efficiency is the foremost means of mitigating climate change. However, the energy efficiency potential is far from being realized, which is commonly explained by the existence of various barriers to energy efficiency. Initially mentioned by Churchman, the term “wicked problems” became established in the 1970s, meaning a kind of problem that has a resistance to resolution because of incomplete, contradictory, or changing requirements. In the academic literature, wicked problems have later served as a critical model in the understanding of various challenges related to society, such as for example climate change mitigation. This aim of this paper is to analyze how the perspective of wicked problems can contribute to an enhanced understanding of improved energy efficiency. The paper draws examples from the manufacturing sector. Results indicate that standalone technology improvements as well as energy management and energy policy programs giving emphasis to standalone technology improvements may not represent a stronger form of a wicked problem as such. Rather, it seems to be the actual decision-making process involving values among the decision makers as well as the level of needed knowledge involved in decision-making that give rise to the “wickedness”. The analysis shows that wicked problems arise in socio-technical settings involving several components such as technology, systems, institutions, and people, which make post-normal science a needed approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrik Thollander & Jenny Palm & Johan Hedbrant, 2019. "Energy Efficiency as a Wicked Problem," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-11, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1569-:d:214023
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Backlund, Sandra & Thollander, Patrik & Palm, Jenny & Ottosson, Mikael, 2012. "Extending the energy efficiency gap," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 392-396.
    2. Pere Ariza-Montobbio & Katharine N. Farrell, 2012. "Wind Farm Siting and Protected Areas in Catalonia: Planning Alternatives or Reproducing 'One-Dimensional Thinking'?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(12), pages 1-26, November.
    3. Thollander, Patrik & Kimura, Osamu & Wakabayashi, Masayo & Rohdin, Patrik, 2015. "A review of industrial energy and climate policies in Japan and Sweden with emphasis towards SMEs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 504-512.
    4. Patrik Thollander & Jenny Palm, 2015. "Industrial Energy Management Decision Making for Improved Energy Efficiency—Strategic System Perspectives and Situated Action in Combination," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-10, June.
    5. Victor Valentine, Scott & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Brown, Marilyn A., 2017. "Frame envy in energy policy ideology: A social constructivist framework for wicked energy problems," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 623-630.
    6. Paramonova, Svetlana & Thollander, Patrik & Ottosson, Mikael, 2015. "Quantifying the extended energy efficiency gap-evidence from Swedish electricity-intensive industries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 472-483.
    7. Palm, Jenny & Thollander, Patrik, 2010. "An interdisciplinary perspective on industrial energy efficiency," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(10), pages 3255-3261, October.
    8. Michael P. Totten, 2012. "GreenATP: APPortunities to catalyze local to global positive tipping points through collaborative innovation networks," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 98-113, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Petru Lucian Curșeu & Sandra G.L. Schruijer, 2020. "Participation and Goal Achievement of Multiparty Collaborative Systems Dealing with Complex Problems: A Natural Experiment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Werner König & Lisa Schwarz & Sabine Löbbe, 2025. "Co-Creating Sustainability Interventions in Practice—Coping with Constitutive Challenges of Transdisciplinary Collaboration in Living Labs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-25, August.
    3. Aleksander Jakimowicz, 2022. "The Energy Transition as a Super Wicked Problem: The Energy Sector in the Era of Prosumer Capitalism," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-31, December.
    4. Wenhua Xu & Qixiang Yuan & Naixin Chen & Jian Ye, 2025. "Green Finance and Energy Structure Transition: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-20, May.
    5. A S M Monjurul Hasan & Mohammad Rokonuzzaman & Rashedul Amin Tuhin & Shah Md. Salimullah & Mahfuz Ullah & Taiyeb Hasan Sakib & Patrik Thollander, 2019. "Drivers and Barriers to Industrial Energy Efficiency in Textile Industries of Bangladesh," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, May.

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