The Third Asian Energy Conference
- Asian Energy Studies Centre
- Jul 3, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 16, 2022
Date and Time: 3 Jul 2019, 9:30 a.m.- 6:00 p.m.

Venue: WLB 104, The Wing Lung Bank Building for Business Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University
Mrs. Padma Harilela Lecture Theatre
Diversity in Urban Energy Transitions in Asia: Trajectories, Governance and Policy Innovations
Aims of this Conference
The conference, titled “Diversity in Urban Energy Transitions in Asia: Trajectories, Governance and Policy Innovations” will be a forum for the participants to discuss the critical roles of cities in sustainable energy transitions in the Asian-Pacific region.
This conference aims:
To provide a forum for academics, industrial practitioners, governments, NGOs and other stakeholders to share views on the social inputs, governance and policy innovation of sustainable energy transitions from an Asian Pacific perspectives;
To shed light on the ways the Asian-Pacific countries differ in their sustainable energy transition, such as how city governments and communities can facilitate the uptake of solar energy, and to what extent policy innovations help unlocking the untapped renewable resources in the urban context; and
To critically understand the differences and the underlying factors which give rise to the different trajectories in energy transitions across Asian-Pacific countries.
Featured Sessions and Speakers
This Conference will feature one keynote speaker, four sessions, and one panel discussion:
Keynote Speaker and Panel Discussion Moderator



Session 1: Socially Enabled Urban Energy Transition





Session 2: Interdisciplinary Approaches for Energy Policy Innovations



Session 3: Governance Innovation for Low-carbon China




Session 4: Just and Social Perspective of Energy Transitions




Videos and Presentations
These Powerpoints and videos have been uploaded under permission by respective speakers of The Third Asian Energy Conference: Diversity in Urban Energy Transitions in Asia: Trajectories, Governance and Policy Innovations in July 2019. Please feel free to download or view for your personal use.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in these presentations or videos are solely of the authors, and they do not necessarily reflect the position of the Asian Energy Studies Centre on the discussed issues and topics. None of the parts in any of these Powerpoints or Videos may be cited or quoted without the permission of the presenter(s) within the respective presentation(s) or video(s).

Opening Remarks
Adrian J. Bailey
Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences;
Chair Professor of Geography;
Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS),
Hong Kong Baptist University
Keynote Speech
New energy for new cities: Challenges and solutions to building sustainable cities
John Byrne Chairman and President, Foundation for Renewable Energy & Environment; Director & Distinguished Professor, Energy & Climate Policy, Center for Energy & Environmental Policy, University of Delaware
Session 1: Socially Enabled Urban Energy Transition
Smart energy transition scenario development from a trust, social learning, and deliberative participation perspective: A preliminary framework and research agenda in the contexts of Japan and South Korea
Daphne Mah Director, Asian Energy Studies Centre; Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University
Speaker Profile
Dr. Daphne Mah is currently Director of the Asian Energy Studies Centre, and an Associate Professor at Department of Geography of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). Dr. Mah researches social aspects of sustainable energy transitions, specialising in interdisciplinary research that cuts across the fields of energy technologies (smart grids, renewable energy, and nuclear power), energy governance, social acceptance, public engagement, and comparative policy studies across national, city, and community contexts in the Asian region, covering the mainland China, South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong. Dr. Mah’s team has been highly active in research with 18 on-going or recently completed projects funded by the Hong Kong government, and several contracted studies funded by NGOs or utilities amounting to HK$~4.6 million. She has published widely in top-tier journals including Energy Research & Social Science; Energy Policy; Geoforum; Journal of Cleaner Production; Sustainable Development; Environmental and Planning C; and The China Review.
Dr. Mah was awarded the Chevening Scholarship for her studies in the UK. She is a recipient of Faculty of Social Sciences’ (HKBU) Faculty Award for Early Career Academic (Research) 2014-2015. Before pursuing her academic career, she was a journalist in Ming Pao Daily News, and the head of the campaigns team of Friends of the Earth (Hong Kong).

Alice Siu Associate Director, Center for Deliberative Democracy, Stanford University
Speaker Profile
Dr. Alice Siu has advised policymakers and political leaders around the world, at various levels of government, including leaders in China, Brazil, and Argentina. Her research interests in deliberative democracy include what happens inside deliberation, such as examining the effects of socio-economic class in deliberation, the quality of deliberation, and the quality of arguments in deliberation.
Shifting environmental and social burdens and benefits of clean energy transitions
Benjamin McLellan
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University
Speaker Profile
Ben has been an Associate Professor at Kyoto University teaching in energy science since 2010, prior to which he worked at the Sustainable Minerals Institute of the University of Queensland on sustainable design and assessment processes within the minerals and industrial processing industries. His PhD and undergraduate studies were in Chemical Engineering – also at the University of Queensland. He is currently involved in research around transitions in energy systems and minerals production / consumption, including deep ocean minerals life cycle sustainability impacts, stakeholder engagement, and more broadly in the minerals-energy nexus.
Smart island energy transition
Taedong Lee
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and International Studies, Yonsei University
European pathways towards market based support schemes for renewables
Gilles Lepesant
Senior Researcher, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS);
Researcher, Centre Marc Bloch Berlin
Session 2: Interdisciplinary Approaches for Energy Policy Innovations
Modelling household energy consumption using climatic and demographic variables in Hong Lok Yuen and Fairview Park, Hong Kong
Kwok Pan Chun
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University

Rita Fan
PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University
An interdisciplinary approach to examine Singapore’s drive towards energy efficiency: Policies for a low carbon future
Melissa Low
Research Fellow, Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore
Speaker Profile
Ms. Low holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in Climate Change Law and Policy (with distinction) from the University of Strathclyde and a Master of Science in Environmental Management from the National University of Singapore. For her NUS Master thesis on past and contemporary proposals on equity and differentiation in shaping the 2015 climate agreement, Melissa was awarded the Shell Best Dissertation Award 2013.
She received her Bachelor of Social Sciences in Geography degree (with Honors) and a minor in Urban Studies from the National University of Singapore in 2010. Melissa has participated in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) talks since December 2009 and is the Designated Contact Point for NUS’s accreditation to the UNFCCC. Her current research areas are on the implications of the Paris Agreement and countries’ progress in meeting their climate pledges.
“Solar cities”: Municipal opportunity for strategic infrastructure-scale photovoltaic development incorporating market, finance, and policy conditions
Job Taminiau
Research Principal, Foundation for Renewable Energy & Environment
Morning Panel Discussion
Chair: Peter Hills
Panelists: Daphne Mah, Gilles Lepesant, Kwok Pan Chun, Job Taminiau, Benjamin McLellan, Melissa Low and Taedong Lee
Session 3: Governance Innovation for Low-carbon China

Socio-technical and political economy perspectives in the Chinese energy transition
Akihisa Mori
Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies,
Kyoto University
Speaker Profile
Dr. Mori has conducted research on environmental, energy and climate policy, governance, fiscal reform in East and Southeast Asia. He published several edited books, including Environmental Fiscal Mechanism and Reform: East Asia and Europe and Green Growth and Low Carbon Development in East Asia from Routledge.
Varieties of local governance and environmental policy innovations in China
Kyoung Marvin Shin
Assistant Professor, Institute of Technology Management,
National Tsing Hua University
Climate experimentation and the limits of top-down control: Local variation of climate pilots in China
Kevin Lo
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University
Speaker Profile
Dr. Lo is a human geographer focusing on understanding the transition to sustainable energy systems from spatial, regional, and governance perspectives. He is also interested in China’s rural and urban studies, such as resettlement, urbanization, rural restructuring, and poverty alleviation. He has published in many leading journals, including Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Energy Policy, Energy for Sustainable Development, Energies, Environmental Science & Policy, Cities, Habitat International, and Journal of Rural Studies.
Revisiting multi-level governance theory: Politics and innovation in the urban climate transition in Rizhao, China
Linda Westman
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Urban Institute, University of Sheffield
Session 4: Just and Social Perspective of Energy Transitions

Energy poverty and just Social Perspective of Energy Transitions
Shinichiro Okushima
Associate Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems,
University of Tsukuba
Territorial equity in energy transition: Reflections on the Yellow Jackets Movement in France
Richard Balme
University Professor, Paris School of International Affairs;
Research Fellow, Center for European Studies And Comparative Politics, Sciences Po
Speaker Profile
Prof. Richard Balme is professor of political science at Sciences Po. He teaches public policy analysis, comparative politics and international relations. Among his publications are European Governance and Democracy: Power and Protest in the European Union, (with D. Chabanet, Rowman and Littlefield 2008) and Europe-Asia Relations: Building Multilateralisms, (with B. Bridges, Palgrave, 2008). His recent research is focused on international environmental and climate governance.
Prof. Balme is scientific director for the Master in International Public Management at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA), director of the executive master in Development Policy and Management “Potentiel Afrique”, and senior fellow at the Centre for European Studies of Sciences Po. He is also a Research Fellow at the Asian Energy Studies Centre of the Honk Kong Baptist University and associate with China Policy in Beijing. He regularly teaches at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University in Beijing. He was appointed member of the Conseil Economique, Social et de l’Environnement, in France, 2012-2014.
Actors in cooperation: A case study of low-carbon energy governance in Hong Kong
Tracy Cheung
Joint PhD Researcher, Institute of Geography, Universität Hamburg;
Department of Geography and Planning, Macquarie University
Afternoon Panel Discussion
Chair: Richard Balme
Panelists: Kyoung Marvin Shin, Kevin Lo, Akihisa Mori, Tracy Cheung, Shinichiro Okushima, Linda Westman
Photos
Lead Organiser

Co-Organisers


Sponsors

Contact Us
If you have any queries, please contact us at aesc@hkbu.edu.hk or +852 3411 7187; +852 3411 7753; +852 3411 7032.
*AESC will take photos and make video and audio-recordings (the Records) at this conference. By participating in part or all of this event, you give consent for us to include you in the Records and give consent for us to make use of the Records for research, information dissemination and other relevant uses at a later point in time. The Records may be edited and published through AESC’s media channels. Individual participants will not be identified without their consent. If you have any concerns, questions, or objections, please contact aesc@hkbu.edu.hk.
This conference was made possible through the Hong Kong Baptist University’s Research Committee Conference Grant (RC-CONF/17-18/10), Faculty of Social Sciences, University Grants Committee’s General Research Fund (Project No.: 12602717) and the funding support from the CLP Power Hong Kong Limited and the Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd.























































































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