Labex DRIIHM Transversal Research Program - Energon
ENERGY TRANSITIONS AND SOCIO-ECOSYSTEMS RECONFIGURATIONS: MOBILIZING OHM TO PRODUCE AN INTEGRATED METHODOLOGY
To follow updates on the program, please visit the scientific blog.
contacts - lead investigators
Sylvie Daviet, Professor of Economics & Social Geography, member of the board of directors of the OHM Bassin Minier de Provence
François-Michel Le Tourneau, Senior Researcher at the CNRS, OHMI Pima County Director
abstract
The ENERGON research project, funded by the CNRS and INEE through the Labex DRIIHM, is an interdisciplinary and multi-site project, which relies on the network of Human-Environment Observatory (OHM), in place since 2007. Led by the OHM of the Provence Mining Basin, the project’s objective is to question the conditions of energy transitions in 6 different observatories and locations.
If climate change is a major element of global proportio with local repercussions, the resulting injunction on energy transition is done in different manners, depending on the territory. Studies on the local impact of energy transitions are mainly very limited and sectorial in nature. The challenge of this project, at the heart of the OHMs, is to go beyond this barrier, by intersecting social, technical and environmental dimensions specific to each socio-ecosystem.
The idea of a "Society-Technology-Environment" nexus will be tested and the OHMs will be considered as laboratories to assess the impact of energy transition on these three components.
An integrated methodology will be used to characterize the reconfigurations of each socio-ecosystems and the human/environment interactions at work in this context. The team of six "testing" OHMs presents a broad interdisciplinarity and possesses the necessary skills to comprehend the dynamics of these reconfigurations.
This methodology will help us observe:
- Technical reconfigurations, which refer to changes in energy systems;
- Societal reconfigurations, which include networks of actors, public policies, and economic models;
- Environmental reconfigurations, which include the redistribution of spaces and their uses, landscape changes, pressure on resources, and more generally the reorganization of environments.
By adopting a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, the purpose is to collect data and analyze the findings of energy transition projects in different territories, and to understand what reconfigurations are brought about by such processes.
The program will run for 3 years, from 2021 to 2024. It brings together 23 researchers from three major interdisciplinary disciplines: social sciences (14), environmental sciences (5) and science and technology studies (4). The team represents some 15 scientific bodies and the program involves 6 different territories:
- the Provence mining basin (OHM BMP, TELEMME - UMR 7303) in France
- Pima County (OHMi Pima County, IRL iGLOBES - CNRS University of Arizona) in the United States
- the Rhône Valley (OHM Vallée du Rhône, University of Lyon) in France
- the Alsace region (OHM Fessenheim, University of Strasbourg) in France
- the Nunavik region (OHMi Nunavik, ÉTS Montréal) in Canada
- the Bitche region (OHM Pays de Bitche, LIEC - UMR 7360) in France.
To follow updates on the program, please visit the scientific blog.
