Energy transition

Themes : Bringing economy and ecology together

In the face of the combined threats of peak oil and increasingly perceptible climate changes, citizens are opting for different forms of energy: local, shared, ecological, collective and cooperative. The goal is three-pronged: raise awareness about energy consumption in general and adopt reduced-consumption solutions; put a stop to energy dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear energy, and initiate an energy transition that places consumption as close as possible to the resource.

This development naturally lies within the sphere of the SSE, with citizens forming groups and pooling their resources to finance projects for creating cooperatives based on renewable energies (solar, wind, biomass, etc.) that respect the environment. These solutions combine local roots, innovative solutions, an environmentally-friendly approach, carbon footprint reduction, democratic governance, non-speculative purpose and the social and solidarity economy. They are hugely popular in Germany and Denmark in particular. As Hugues Sybille points out, “the formula offers two major competitive advantages: it can be used to bring into play local savings. In Germany, for example, cooperatives use their own funds for half their financing. The second advantage is that the formula fosters greater acceptability among citizens, for example, of wind turbines. Instead of projects that are imposed rather than being chosen, we develop the projects we wish for and agree to.” Another energy future is emerging.

8 publications | One proposal | 7 case studies | 20 Analyses/working papers/articles | 2 public contributions | An article

8 publications

• Empowering Electricity. Co-operatives, Sustainability, and Power Sector Reform in Canada.

  Julie L. MacArthur, University of Bristish Colombia Press, October 2016

• Europe in transition. Local communities leading the way to a low-carbon society.

  Eamon O’Hara, June 2013

  AEIDL

• Zero carbon Britain 2030. A new energy Strategy: The second report of the Zero Carbon Britain project

  June 2010

  NEF

• Enough is Enough Ideas for a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources

  O’Neill, D.W., R. Dietz, and N. Jones (editors). 2010. The report of the Steady State Economy Conference, Leeds, UK. Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (Arlington, Virginia, USA) and Economic Justice for All (Leeds, UK).

  Dan O’Neill, Rob Dietz, Nigel Jones, 2010

  CASSE

• The Social Economy International. Perspectives on Economic Solidarity

  Edited by Ash Amin, Zed Books, UK, September 2009

• Eco-innovation - putting the EU on the path to a resource and energy eficient economy

  The issue of resource scarcity is back on the agenda. What should EU do about it?

  Raimund Bleischwitz, Michael Kuhndt, Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek, Stefan Giljum, March 2009

  Wuppertal Institute, Germany,

• The Middelgrunden Offshore Wind Farm. A Popular Initiative.

  2003

• The double challenge. Understanding the Challenge: Energy, climate change and development

  In support of a ‘Green Energy Revolution’ to simultaneously tackle the right to development and the climate crisis

  Swedish Society for Nature Conservation

One proposal

• Solar Dollars – a way to promote renewable energy, while supporting the local economy and providing interest-free financing for utility companies

  Thomas H. Greco, August 2016

7 case studies

• Illinois’s Cook County Helps Solar Energy Cooperatives Rise and Shine

  Kevin Stark, July 2017

• How Government Support for Social Enterprise Can Reduce Poverty and Green House Gases

  Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba

  Lynne Fernandez, January 2016

• Local Governments Supporting Local Energy Initiatives: Lessons from the Best Practices of Saerbeck (Germany) and Lochem (The Netherlands)

  Sustainability 2015, 7(2), 1900-1931

  Thomas Hoppe, Antonia Graf, Beau Warbroek, Imke Lammers, Isabella Lepping, 2015

• Social and Economic Benefits of Community Energy Schemes

  report produced by Shared Assets and the National Trust

  Shared Assets and the National Trust, UK, 2014

• What factors enable community-leadership of renewable energy projects? Lessons from a woodfuel heating initiative

  Jennifer C. Rogers, Eunice A Simmons, Ian Convery, Andrew Weatherall, March 2012

• Green Energy and Green Economy Act

  Brief Public Policy Profile CCRPèS - CSERP

  Sarah Amyot, May 2010

  RELIESS

• Power to the People: community‐led wind energy – obstacles and opportunities in a South Wales Valley

  Community Development Journal, 36, 96-110.

  Emily Hinshelwood, 2001

20 Analyses/working papers/articles

• Energy and Gender: Ecofeminist views on energy

  Rapporteurship of the debate - Xarxa per la sobirania energètica. La Fede, April 24th 2017

  April 2017

• Cultures of Community Energy International case studies

  Neil Simcock, Rebecca Willis, Peter Capener in association with Lancaster Environment Centre – Lancaster University, May 2016

• Energy, democracy, community

  John Duda, August 2015

• Power To The People: Toward Democratic Control of Electricity Generation

  Trade Unions for Energy Democracy Worling Paper n°4

  June 2015

• The energy transition to energy democracy. Power to the people.

  Final results oriented report of the REScoop 20-20-20 Intelligent Energy Europe project

  REScoop, April 2015

• The institutional space of community initiatives for renewable energy: a comparative case study of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark

  Energy, Sustainability and Society 2014

  Marieke Oteman, Mark Wiering, Helderman Jan-Kees, 2014

• Making Space for Economic Democracy: The Danish Wind Power Revolution

  Think pieces for the UNRISD conference “Potential and Limits of Social and Solidarity Economy”. 6-8 May 2013

  Andrew Cumbers, May 2013

  UNRISD

• Growing grassroots innovations: exploring the role of community-based initiatives in governing sustainable energy transitions

  Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 30(3) 381 – 400

  Gill Seyfang, Alex Haxeltine, 2012

• Social Factors in Wind Energy Development of Denmark in 1980s – 1990s: Society and Technology

  Panuwat Permsantithum, Rajarajan Rathinavelu, 2012

• Bringing Social Equity into Low-carbon Investment: why it matters and emerging lessons.

  Becky Buell, Ruth Mayne, September 2011

• Degrowth and the supply of money in an energy-scarce world

  Ecological Economics xxx (2011) xxx–xxx. Elsevier.

  Richard Douthwaite, 2011

• Beyond Copenhagen: Common Ownership, Reparations, Degrowth and Renewable Energy Technology Transfer

  Kolya Abramsky, April 2010

• Energy cooperatives and local ownership in the field of renewable energy technologies: A literature review

  RiCC – research report 2010/4

  Anna Schreuer, Daniela Weismeier-Sammer, April 2010

• A Global Green New Deal for Climate, Energy, and Development

  A big push strategy to ! ! Drive down the cost of renewable energy ! Ramp up deployment in developing countries ! End energy poverty ! Contribute to economic recovery and growth ! Generate employment in all countries ! and ! Help avoid dangerous climate change

  December 2009

  UNDESA

• Principles for Constructing Alternative Socio-economic Organizations: Lessons Learned from Working Outside Institutional Structures

  Review of Radical Political Economics. Volume (Year): 41 (2009)

  David Barkin, September 2009

• Stability, participation and transparency in renewable energy policy: Lessons from Denmark and the United States

  Elsevier Policy and Society 27 (2009) 379–398

  Miguel Mendonça, Stephen Lacey, Frede Hvelplund, 2009

• What are the barriers and incentives for community-owned means of energy production and use?

  Energy Policy Volume 36, Issue 12, December 2008, Pages 4401–4405, Elsevier.

  Gordon Walker, December 2008

• Social Acceptance and Social Innovation in Wind Power Technology

  Energy Policy, 35, 2761- 2769.

  2007

• Innovation diffusion, public policy, and local initiative: The case of wood-fuelled district heating systems in Austria

  Energy Policy, 35, 1992-2008

  Madlener Reinhard, 2007

• Danish Experience in Wind Energy - Local Financing

  Working report for the WELFI project (Wind Energy Local Financing) coordinated by CLER (Comité de Liaison Energies Renouvelables), France with support from the EU SAVE Program.

  Gunnar Boye Olesen, Preben Maegaard, Jane Kruse, December 2002

2 public contributions

• Eat the Sky: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork.

  Anna Lappé, October 2008

  NEI

• Fifty Million Farmers

  Twenty-Sixth Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures October 2006, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA

  Richard Heinberg, October 2006

  NEI

An article

• It Was a Blighted City Block. But This Woman Is Turning It Into a Solar-Powered Ecovillage

  Article of Yes! Magazine, Dec 07, 2016

  Zenobia Jeffries, December 2016

  Yes! Magazine