Five modes of implementation
To illustrate the use of this framework, Table 2
characterises five commonly understood ‘modes’ of
renewable energy implementation that have emerged
in the UK and the broad configurations of ‘hardware’
and ‘software’ associated with each mode. We
specifically use ‘mode’ here in preference to the
terms ‘regime’ and ‘niche’ that are commonly used
in the literature on socio-technical systems (Rip
and Kemp 1998; Geels and Schot 2007). As a looser
term ‘mode’ allows for greater simultaneous heter-
ogeneity and avoids some of the problematic
assumptions of the deliberate nested hierarchical
transition management framework (for a more detailed
discussion, see Shove and Walker 2007). The label
given to each mode, and the key distinguishing
factor that we thereby highlight, identifies the locus
of agency to implement energy generation. Table 2
also indicates the political discourses associated
with each mode, highlighting how their emergence
has been bound up and legitimised by wider
ideological currents (Bijker et al. 1987).