Power to the people: Local community initiatives and the transition to sustainable energy

Tineke van der Schoor and Bert Scholtens

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2015, vol. 43, issue C, 666-675

Abstract: The transition towards renewable and sustainable energy is being accompanied by a transformation of communities and neighbourhoods. This transition may have huge ramifications throughout society. Many cities, towns and villages are putting together ambitious visions about how to achieve 100% sustainable energy, energy neutrality, zero carbon emission or zero-impact of their communities. We investigate what is happening at the local community level towards realizing these ambitions from a social perspective. We use the case study approach to answer the following question: how do local community energy initiatives contribute to a decentralized sustainable energy system? We find that especially the development of a shared vision, the level of activities and the type of organisation are important factors of the strength of the ‘local network’.

Keywords: Decentralized energy production; Energy initiatives; Citizen groups; Energy neutrality; Sustainable energy; Prosumers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (139)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:43:y:2015:i:c:p:666-675

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DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2014.10.089

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