Benjamin Sovacool
· Professor & Director, Institute for Global SustainabilityBoston University · Earth & Environment
Active 2003–2026
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About
Benjamin Sovacool is a Professor and Director of the Institute for Global Sustainability at Boston University. His work as a researcher and consultant focuses on global energy policy and politics, energy security, energy justice, climate change mitigation, and climate change adaptation. His research specifically emphasizes renewable energy and energy efficiency, the politics surrounding large-scale energy infrastructure, and the development of public policies aimed at improving energy security and access to electricity. Additionally, Sovacool's work addresses the ethics and justice of energy systems and the building of adaptive capacity to respond to the consequences of climate change.
Research topics
- Political Science
- Sociology
- Computer Science
- Economics
- Law
- Business
- Social Science
- Engineering
- Public economics
- Natural resource economics
Selected publications
On the History and Future of 100% Renewable Energy Systems Research
IEEE Access · 2022 · 524 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingResearch on 100% renewable energy systems is a relatively recent phenomenon. It was initiated in the mid-1970s, catalyzed by skyrocketing oil prices. Since the mid-2000s, it has quickly evolved into a prominent research field encompassing an expansive and growing number of research groups and organizations across the world. The main conclusion of most of these studies is that 100% renewables is feasible worldwide at low cost. Advanced concepts and methods now enable the field to chart realistic…
Energy Research & Social Science · 2023 · 210 citations
1st authorCorrespondingJustice represents not only a moral obligation but can enhance the legitimacy and acceptance of a rapid push toward global decarbonization. Innovations in technology, even those geared toward sustainability, can both reinforce and introduce new inequalities and disparities across populations, while also perpetuating environmental degradation. The concept of energy justice has emerged as a conceptual, methodological, and empirical tool to both highlight and remediate many of these concerns, with…
Metrics for Decision-Making in Energy Justice
Annual Review of Environment and Resources · 2023 · 84 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingEnergy equity and justice have become priority considerations for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars alike. To ensure that energy equity is incorporated into actual decisions and analysis, it is necessary to design, use, and continually improve energy equity metrics. In this article, we review the literature and practices surrounding such metrics. We present a working definition for energy justice and equity, and connect them to both criteria for and frameworks of metrics. We then present…
Energy and Climate Change · 2024 · 22 citations
Based on a large-scale public survey, we identify and quantify the significance of key factors associated with the deployment of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. Our results indicate that individual characteristics, such as income, age, region, and single vs. multi-family housing type can significantly affect electric vehicle purchase preferences, especially those concerning overnight charging and perceptions of benefits and barriers. Moreover, our results challenge earlier finding…
Applied Energy · 2024 · 19 citations
Based on high-resolution spatial and temporal analysis, we quantify and evaluate the equality of plug-in electric vehicle adoption and public charging infrastructure deployment in the United States, examining current and historical trends, as well as racial and income-based disparities. Our results show that the current and historical distribution of conventional vehicle ownership and gas stations shows much more equality, in contrast to electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. With regard…
Frequent coauthors
- 137 shared
Dylan D. Furszyfer Del Rio
- 79 shared
Lance Noel
NuVasive (United States)
- 78 shared
Johannes Kester
University of Oxford
- 64 shared
Gerardo Zarazua de Rubens
Aarhus University
- 60 shared
Steve Griffiths
Khalifa University of Science and Technology
- 60 shared
Chad M. Baum
- 57 shared
Mari Martiskainen
University of Sussex
- 57 shared
Aoife Foley
Education
- 2000
Ph.D., Public Policy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 1997
M.S., Technology and Policy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 1994
B.A., Environmental Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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