Version 1
: Received: 19 February 2024 / Approved: 21 February 2024 / Online: 21 February 2024 (15:41:30 CET)
How to cite:
Dudka, A.; Magnani, N. Do Energy Communities Foster Energy Citizenship? A Mixed‐Methods Study of Two Renewable Energy Communities. Preprints2024, 2024021239. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1239.v1
Dudka, A.; Magnani, N. Do Energy Communities Foster Energy Citizenship? A Mixed‐Methods Study of Two Renewable Energy Communities. Preprints 2024, 2024021239. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1239.v1
Dudka, A.; Magnani, N. Do Energy Communities Foster Energy Citizenship? A Mixed‐Methods Study of Two Renewable Energy Communities. Preprints2024, 2024021239. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1239.v1
APA Style
Dudka, A., & Magnani, N. (2024). Do Energy Communities Foster Energy Citizenship? A Mixed‐Methods Study of Two Renewable Energy Communities. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1239.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Dudka, A. and Natalia Magnani. 2024 "Do Energy Communities Foster Energy Citizenship? A Mixed‐Methods Study of Two Renewable Energy Communities" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1239.v1
Abstract
Energy citizenship is increasingly receiving attention and highlights the transformation from passive to active energy consumers who are aware of and responsible for the energy transition. The topic is often associated with energy communities, which are regarded as organizations that allow citizens to directly engage in energy and broader sustainability initiatives. The objective of the article is to examine the extent of public and private engagement in the energy transition among cooperative members as well as the propensity of energy communities to promote empowerment and inclusivity. To this end, we employ a mixed-methods approach, involving a sample of 5402 participants and 20 qualitative interviews in two prominent energy cooperatives in Europe, Ecopower in Flanders and è nostra in Italy. Our results show that although a small group of members demonstrate strong and active engagement, the majority of members prefer to engage informally, while still benefitting from the empowerment provided by their cooperative. Interestingly, one subset of members is more closely aligned with the role of financial investors. Eventually, flexibility in defining and framing expectations of member engagement can play a crucial role in promoting inclusivity within energy communities, especially by bringing closer those relatively less familiar with the issue.
Keywords
energy citizenship; renewable energy communities; energy cooperatives; engagement
Subject
Social Sciences, Sociology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
