Seminarios BC3/ “Societal and Energy Metabolism as a Tool for Transformation: Understanding the Challenges of Energy-Society Relations”

Seminar Title:
Societal and Energy Metabolism as a Tool for Transformation: Understanding the Challenges of Energy-Society Relations

Abstract:

Levels of complexity achieved by societies today have only been possible because of the abundance and readily usable primary energy forms whose exploitation provides huge surpluses of energy flows. However, the bonanza of the past is over and we are facing a global crisis with many challenges to overcome. Socio-economic systems are ever increasingly constrained by biophysical limits, with peaking fossil reserves, decreasing energetic returns and climate change impacts. Therefore the analysis of such complex systems require methodologies capable of analyzing multiple hierarchical levels and operating across multiple scales. The presentation will open with a critique to using unidimensional indicators such as that of the energy intensity and proposes the use of alternative approaches such as the Multi-scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) as a tool that can be used for diagnostic and simulation purposes for an informed decision making process. This seminar will present insights on socio-economic transitions experienced in Europe (EU-15) over a 15 year time period on past and current trends looking into issues of energy  from  where,  in  which  form,  for  which  socio-economic sector and for what kind of development? Thereafter, to complete the bigger picture, it will ask questions on energy for whom and at whose cost required for discussions on transformation and justice.

Lecturer:
Alev Sorman , Visiting postdoctoral researcher at the Pufendorf Institute at Lund University

Lecturer´s Biodata:

Alev Sorman is currently a visiting postdoctoral researcher at the Pufendorf Institute at Lund University working on Energy Justice. She is also affiliated to the Integrated Assessment group at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She received her PhD, in 2011, from the same institute, focusing on the “Energetic Metabolism of Societies” characterizing Energy-Society interactions through the Multi-scale Integrated Assessment for Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) approach.

She has co-authored two books on energy metabolism of societies published by Routledge, contributed to Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era” (Routledge, 2014) and published in outlets such as Global Environmental Change, Energy, Journal of Cleaner Production, Ecological Modelling and International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics. She has experience working on European Projects (FP6, FP7, EuropeAid and H2020) as well as projects through International (WWF, PRIO) and Regional funding (AGAUR). She has also previously been a visiting researcher at Universidad Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Instituto de Altos Estudios (Ecuador) and the Italian National Institute for Statistics (Italy).