Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
as more communities are connected to the electricity grid, concerns over
access to electricity will give way to other concerns such as the perceived
health threats attributed to wind farms.
A central core connects the dynamically evolving STEP elements (depicted
by circular arrows) presented in Figure 3.1. his is intended to graphically
highlight the interrelationships between these four categories. For example,
inluences within the social sphere both inluence and are inluenced by fac-
tors in the technological sphere. Again to illustrate: in China, the world's
fastest growing wind power market, a progressively expanding pool of
electrical engineers not only enable the difusion of wind power projects,
they provide the human capital necessary to drive wind power research and
development programs and have supported the emergence of internation-
ally competitive Chinese wind turbine manufacturers. In return, China's
wind turbine manufacturers not only provide a source of employment to
China's growing corps of electrical engineers; these irms have also sup-
ported the gestation of wind system component manufacturers, providing
welcome employment opportunities in rural regions.
he category at the base of Figure 3.1 is the political sphere. he premise
of this topic is that both politics and policy (the components of the political
sphere) inluence and are inluenced by forces from the social, economic,
and technological spheres. In other words, politics and policy do not uni-
laterally dictate wind power market development, even in a nation such as
China with a one-party political system. he
Political SET
model suggests
that policymakers design policy under the inluence of social, economic,
technological and political forces. Moreover, the foundational placement
of the political sphere also graphically illustrates the premise that politics
and policy represent the most inluential STEP category in terms of foster-
ing wind power development. As all six case studies will demonstrate, how
politicians and policymakers choose to interpret signals from the SET envi-
ronment often serves as the critical catalyst in inluencing the trajectory of
wind power development.
he
Political SET
model epitomizes the interconnections found within a
complex adaptive system. Within these four spheres, there are numerous
forces that have been identiied in each of the case studies and that impact
wind power difusion. Each variable of importance inluences and is inlu-
enced by other variables within the same STEP category. For example, the
existence of farmers' co-ops in Denmark (a social variable) facilitates a high
degree of community consensus over what constitutes acceptable site plan-
ning (another social variable). Each variable of importance also inluences
and is inluenced by forces arising in other STEP spheres, catalyzing changes
to a number of inluential variables. In other words, a signiicant change to
