What renewable energy future should we strive for? Assessing renewable energy utopias through Sci-Fi and normative energy ethics

We propose distinguishing between two questions that may require different answers: Firstly, what kind of energy future do we, as a society, want? And what energy future should we strive for in our energy policies? Taking critiques of the pursuit of renewable energy abundance seriously, we conclude that we should resist the tendency to unquestioningly incorporate utopian ideas of renewable energy abundance into energy policies and technologies, despite the strong rhetorical appeal of abundance. This implies that the second concern regarding energy sufficiency - namely, its ambiguity, context dependency, and challenging measurement issues - should be addressed directly instead of being avoided. Energy policies must engage more explicitly with the normative assumptions underlying desirable energy futures, particularly with regard to sufficiency versus abundance.