About the project
Hydrogen fuel has received increased attention in recent years as a promising alternative to fossil fuels in transport and other sectors. Despite its environmental repute and active efforts to introduce it in various transport segments, hydrogen fuel has so far failed to become a mainstream fuel in Norwegian transport. While there has been considerable research on hydrogen fuel from a technical perspective, we have only begun to explore the social dimensions of its adoption and use. The main knowledge gap to which this thesis is responding to is the need for a better understanding of the general public’s perception of hydrogen fuel, especially as it relates to awareness, sustainability and safety. The overarching research question for the thesis is: how does public perception influence the adoption of (low-carbon) technology? I study this question by analyzing the case of hydrogen fuel in Norwegian transport.
Theoretically, this thesis is grounded in the literature on sustainability transitions, in particular, the technological innovation systems framework and the multi-level perspective, but also introduces novel uses of practice theory within the socio-technical approach. It draws upon multiple sources of data, including, hearing documents, observations from event participation, interviews, and a representative national survey. The most important of these is a large survey, in which there are three main dimensions to public perception, namely awareness, perceived sustainability and perceived safety. The thesis will consist of four papers, which are as follows:
- Technological innovation systems and transport innovations: understanding vehicle electrification in Norway
- Tensions in public perception and legitimacy of hydrogen fuel in Norwegian transport
- Fear of hydrogen fuel among the general public in Norway
- Early adopters in parallel: A practice approach to vehicle electrification in Norway
Supervisors
Allan Dahl Andersen, TIK, UiO
Silvia Olsen, TØI
Opponents
Kejia Yang, TIK, UIO
Tuukka Makatie, SINTEF
How to participate
The seminar is open to everyone. The manuscript is available upon request. Please send the request to Cyriac George (cyriac.george@toi.no). For zoom link, please contact Ingrid Helene Johnsen (i.h.johnsen@tik.uio.no).
Welcome!