The Capability Approach as a normative framework for technology assessment: Capabilities in assessing digitalization in the energy transformation

Rafaela Hillerbrand; Christine Milchram; Jens Schippl

doi:10.14512/tatup.28.1.52

Authors

Rafaela Hillerbrand Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) , Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (DE) http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7890-3715 rafaela.hillerbrand@kit.edu
Christine Milchram Department of Values, Technology & Innovation (VTI), Faculty of Technology, Policy & Management (TPM), TU Delft (NL) http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6325-4329 c.milchram@tudelft.nl
Jens Schippl Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) , Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (DE) http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3169-6365 jens.schippl@kit.edu

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.28.1.52

Keywords:

energy transition, digitalization, ethics, autonomous driving, Capability Approach

Abstract

The digital revolution of the energy system promises a new sustainable energy future, but risks security and privacy. How to balance or at least compare these risks against other values like more sustainability is far from obvious and poses severe challenges for the orientation knowledge of technology assessment (TA). This paper explores the Capability Approach (CA) as a normative orientation for TA that allows addressing these challenges. We use two scenarios for the current digitalization in the energy sector as case studies.

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