Sustainable energy projects and the community: Mapping single-building use of microgeneration technologies in London

Anne-Marie Coles, Athena Piterou and Audley Genus
Additional contact information
Anne-Marie Coles: University of Greenwich, Business Faculty, Department of Systems Management & Strategy, UK
Athena Piterou: University of Greenwich, Business Faculty, Department of Systems Management & Strategy, UK
Audley Genus: Kingston University, Kingston Business School, UK

Urban Studies, 2016, vol. 53, issue 9, 1869-1884

Abstract: Microgeneration technologies offer the potential for distributed energy supply and consumption resulting in reduced reliance on centralised generation. Adoption of microgeneration for use in community settings is usually understood as having a beneficial contribution to sustainable development. This is particularly relevant in urban environments which present specific challenges relating to the heterogeneity of building and land use. Small-scale installations in buildings also appear to offer technological flexibility at the ‘human’ level, necessary for local participation in shaping the direction of sustainable development. This paper reports on a project concerned with identifying on-site energy generation projects in Greater London. A database was compiled comprising renewable and energy efficient microgeneration installations in multi-occupancy buildings. The relationships between each project and its associated organisations are mapped as a social network, which illustrates the heterogeneity of technologies and actors involved, as well as the flows of funding and expertise. The structure of the resulting networks indicates a lack of participation by social or not-for-profit groups who are traditionally identified as community level actors. The findings indicate that large institutional actors on the supply side may become regarded as renewable energy experts. Hence, there is a need to consider how the concept of community level actors in urban microgeneration projects is applicable to local government and commercial organisations.

Keywords: community engagement; microgeneration in buildings; renewable energy policy; social network analysis; urban sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098015581575 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:53:y:2016:i:9:p:1869-1884

DOI: 10.1177/0042098015581575

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().