Trade-offs in Sustainable Energy Transitions: Institutions and Interests in Shaping Electricity Mixes

My dissertation research examines trade-offs inherent in the sustainable energy transition by investigating electricity mixes across a range of countries, including industrialized countries, all countries, and the states of the United States. From the array of potential drivers, this prospective book project illuminates two key variables: those pertaining to institutions, including specific policies and a comprehensive pro-climate energy policy regime, and those related to interests, including the leverage of each coalition by electricity source types. By proposing a classification system that allows future researchers to assess trade-offs and synergies in sustainability beyond the traditional renewables and non-renewables dichotomy, this project mainly employs a dynamic compositional approach that helps to examine the trade-offs among energy sources in energy mixes. 

By using compositional models, I demonstrate that institutions can serve as pivotal drivers of change on a general scale. They can facilitate a sustainable transition from other energy sources to intermittent renewable sources, such as solar and wind energy, in a fundamental manner, as evidenced by the observed relative increase. However, these influences do not always manifest in the same way, and it is important to consider the nuances of the relationship between institutions and sustainable trade-offs. This is because positive and negative feedback loops of the institutions in question—which shape relevant interests, the institution itself over time, and other institutions—may occur simultaneously. 

My research contributes to the broader energy and sustainability fields by suggesting a way of how the compositional approach can enrich the discussion related with energy transition in terms of climate change and sustainability. Moreover, it contributes to political science, political economy, and public policy studies as it explores the role of distributive politics and diverse institutions (through feedback processes) in shaping electricity mixes.

Working Papers (Drafts available upon request for papers listed in the below) 

Sohn, Hyodong. “International Instrumental Targets: Strategic Commitments to Renewable Energy under the Paris Agreement.” (Under Review)

Sohn, Hyodong. “Drivers of Sustainable Trade-offs in Electricity Mix: A Dynamic Compositional Approach to Energy Transition.” (Under Review)

Sohn, Hyodong. “How Public Institutional Arrangements Shape Utilities’ Decisions: The Utility Ownership and the Selection Rule of State Regulators, and Residential Fixed Charges for Electricity.” (Paper Ready for Submission)

Sohn, Hyodong, and Jihoon Yun. “Drivers of Successful Energy Policy Enactment in State Legislatures: A Machine-Learning Approach Assessment.”

Sohn, Hyodong. “Decentralized Reform Effects on Environmental Sustainability: Power Sector Reforms and Renewable Energy.”

Sohn, Hyodong. “Policy Feedback, Distriubtional Politics, and State Electricity Capacity Addition Mix.”

Other Papers in Progress (Research designs and/or intital findings available upon request for papers listed in the below)

Sohn, Hyodong, Hoeyun Kwon, Hilary Brumberg, and Ellery Galvin. “Domain Contextual Drivers of Climate and Energy Policy Diffusions” (Paper in Progress)

Sohn, Hyodong. “RE100 and Private Regulation Adoption and Diffusion of Global Firms.” (Paper in Progress)

Sohn, Hyodong. “Public Perceptions of Climate Change and Energy Security and Attitude towards Trade-offs in Energy Mix Across European Countries.” (Paper in Progress)