Ireland's transition towards a low carbon society: The leadership role of higher education institutions in solar photovoltaic niche development

Abstract

Ireland is currently considered a laggard within Europe in relation to decarbonisation of its society, with future projections estimating increases in greenhouse gas emissions up to and beyond 2030. To accelerate Ireland's transition towards a low-carbon society, there is a need for leadership in deployment and experimentation of low carbon technologies. As Higher Education Institutions (HEI) currently play a major role in generation of human capital and the associated impact on societal development, HEIs are ideal locations to focus resources in terms of deployment and experimentation of decarbonisation technologies to demonstrate best practice for further replication within wider society. To guide Irish HEIs in this regard, a novel integrated approach titled 'Higher Education Accelerating Development for Sustainability' (HEADS) has been developed and applied to the sector. The HEADS approach utilises the perspectives of quantitative systems analysis, sociotechnical analysis, and living lab learning to inform HEIs of their potential roles within national sustainability transitions. Applied to solar photovoltaic transitions in Ireland, the HEADS approach has identified HEIs as vital locations to deploy low-carbon technologies due to their amplification effect in signalling to wider society the attractiveness of these technologies.