• Energy Research

The energy landscape of the twenty-first century is dominated by ramifications necessitating critically low carbon emissions and efficient utilization of renewable energy sources. Therefore, in order to support the transition to the green energy era a myriad of policies is drafted and implemented with the most notable being the “20-20-20” European directive. Therefore, effective marketing strategies could assist in the transition from fossil fuel based to clean energy production technologies. Thus far, the existing body of marketing literature tackling the adoption of green energy systems is rather limited. In addition, innovation diffusion models in the energy sector are case-depended and can only provide myopic managerial insights. To that end, well-designed intervention policies in the marketing domain could stimulate the environmental awareness of consumers and further foster the diffusion of renewable sources in the energy sector. Hence, in this study we propose a system dynamics (SD) methodological approach to assess marketing interventions that could promote the diffusion of clean energy production. Such modeling could provide important managerial insights with regard to the merit of effective marketing operations towards a robust and sustainable future in the energy landscape.

Electricity is an undisputed factor supporting human development, while further supporting social wellbeing and fostering economic growth of modern societies. Therefore, the electricity market provides a vivid policy-making arena for the EU regulators, where on-going structural reforms are promoted with the aim to encapsulate and accommodate sustainability aspects. Notably, the EU Member States have adopted the strategic roadmap “Europe 2020” toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption by 20 %, and generating 20 % of energy from renewable sources. However, our research highlights that strategies trying to balance sustainable electricity supply with demand often neglect the societal pricing acceptability of the electricity provided to consumers. Thus far, existing literature focuses on electricity pricing policies that fail to capture the dynamics that have to govern realistic pricing schema in the electricity sector. To that end, this study elaborates the system dynamics (SD) methodological approach to embrace the potential dominant factors within a sustainable electricity system. The proposed SD framework could assist public and private stakeholders in determining a rational electricity pricing policy within a sustainability context. Finally, policy-making interventions are discussed in order to provide managerial insights for the decision-makers.

Abstract The aim of this research is to provide a comprehensive analysis framework for fostering the transition of electricity systems towards sustainability and energy security. In this sense, we first provide a critical taxonomy of extant studies, as these are mapped on strategic, tactical and operational levels of the hierarchical decision-making process. Sustainability constituents along with the considered supply or demand viewpoints are also mapped. Following, we recognize and classify the major elaborated performance metrics used to monitor and assess the sustainable performance of electricity systems. We then integrate the recognized decision-making process with the physical systems' perspective to demonstrate the complex and dynamic nature of the electricity systems. Our critical analysis reveals that sustainability and energy security are rapidly evolving research fields; however, the often myopic perspective of the reviewed studies hinders the effective evaluation and analysis of renewable energy systems. Our analysis further allows for the identification of gaps and overlaps in literature, as well as of future research areas.