Smart grid systems are considered as key enablers in the transition to more sustainable energy systems. However, debates reflect concerns that they affect social and moral values such as privacy and justice. The energy justice framework has been proposed as a lens to evaluate social and moral aspects of changes in energy systems. This paper seeks to investigate this proposition for smart grid systems by exploring the public debates in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Findings show that smart grids have the potential to effectively address justice issues, for example by facilitating small-scale electricity generation and transparent and reliable billing. It is a matter of debate, however, whether current smart grid designs contribute to cost and energy savings, advance a more equitable and democratic energy system, or reinforce distributive and procedural injustices. The increased use of information and communication technology raises value conflicts on privacy and cyber security, which are related to energy justice. This research contributes by conceptualizing energy justice in the context of smart grids for the first time. The energy justice framework is broadened by including values and value conflicts that pertain directly to the increased use of information and communication technology. For policy makers and designers of smart grids, the paper provides guidance for considering interconnected social and moral values in the design of policies and smart grid technologies.

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The development of offshore wind energy systems is a complex challenge from a technical, socio-economic, ethical and legal perspective. The proposed paper elaborates a general framework for systematically embedding social responsibility into the technical and institutional design of offshore wind energy systems. Taking a systems perspective we investigate how values can be embedded in the technical design of offshore energy systems in relation to other surrounding (energy) systems and beyond. Thereby we use a value sensitive design approach. Here, the empirical basis is given by the current development of offshore wind in the Netherlands and the values and conflicts articulated by various stakeholder groups. The conceptual framework is provided by the capability approach. It will be argued that the capability approach is particularly well suited for addressing ethical issues in the context of energy supply (and demand) as it allows taking into account positive and negative aspects of various energy technologies, while also including their positive aspects in the terms of freedom of action. In this respect, a capability perspective distinguishes itself from various other forms of ethical assessments that predominantly focus on the negative impacts of technology. We will sketch how the institutional design of offshore wind energy systems addresses the regulation and governance of the energy sector in relation to the ethical requirements that arise in a value sensitive design approach as sketched above.@en