Given the world’s challenges, including climate change concerns, efforts are being made globally to make the transition to renewable energies a reality. To explore how digital public goods could be used for such purpose, a team from?, a member institution of the?United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI)?in Ukraine, composed of professors Truba Vyacheslav, Nyenno Iryna, Lomachynska Iryna, and Mazur Olena, conducted a to see how these goods can actually support?Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.?
According to a?policy brief?issued by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the term digital public goods “comprises the open-sourced technological goods and services that are made available to all members of society to benefit from, including young people, and are committed to revitalizing the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals].” Those goods are seen as an open-access solution in a technically equipped world. Thus, their emergence requires various critical elements, including appropriate investment.
Digital public goods are also understood, as per the?Office of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, as “open-source software, open data, open artificial intelligence models, open standards and open content.” Back to the issue of renewable energies, one critical aspect of consideration is that its share in the total volume of energy consumption still needs to be significantly improved. The?, issued by the International Agency Agency, said that the share of renewables in global electricity generation was at 29% in 2020.
The research design of the project conducted by this Ukrainian university takes into consideration the existing data on energy structure, followed by the identification of current instruments of renewable energy distribution, an analysis of the digital public goods from the perspective of sustainable energy behavior introduced in the digitalized environment, and the definition of which are the energy industry stakeholders. The final phase consisted of developing the architecture of energy consumption by applying digital public goods.
The study showed that to reach Goal 7, stakeholders’ motivation was a pivotal mechanism to unite them all, transforming energy consumers into energy ‘prosumers’ (consumers who also produce) who are also actively involved in the spread of digital public goods. Those goods are meant to lead to sustainable energy behavior in combination with the architecture of energy industry consumption. The study proposed a stakeholders’ management model designed for behavior, structure, and context on individual, group, intergroup, and organizational levels.
The proposed technical implementation is based on the big data concept of ‘Industry 4.0’ -the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution- and special software and applications development. The resulting digital platform and interface should help suit the customers’ needs to the final key performance indicators concerning the energy-saving approach. Customers’ values as a variety of incentives should include several factors, including economic ones, such as the possibility of reducing costs associated with energy consumption.
Overall, the idea was to develop a system for energy consumption in the form of digital public goods to minimize the gap between stakeholders, by analyzing incentives or attitude-like judgments through the web environment of the energy ‘prosumers.’ “This will encourage smart energy consumption, and each consumer will become a proactive, responsible player in energy transition,” commented Dr. Prof. Iryna Lomachynska. “Digital public goods are a relevant means for supporting sustainable energy behavior,” said Associate Professor Olena Mazur.
The architecture of sustainable energy behavior covers a combination of research and development, needs and values, and of course, sustainable development. In addition to issues concerning the technical implementation and the wide diversity of energy sources, each element is associated with the appropriate stakeholders’ goals and activities. “In Ukraine, the last two years have shown significant evidence of the importance of energy transition in the world,” commented Dr. Prof. Iryna Nyenno about how timely the study is.
