Public Values and Community Energy: Lessons from the US and UK

This paper examines some of the normative aspects of “community energy” programmes—defined here as decentralized forms of energy production and distributed energy technologies where production decisions are made as close as possible to sources of consumption. Such projects might also display a degre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSustainability Vol. 5; no. 4; pp. 1747 - 1763
Main Authors Hoffman, Steven, Fudge, Shane, Pawlisch, Lissa, High-Pippert, Angela, Peters, Michael, Haskard, Joel
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.04.2013
Subjects
Alternative energy sources
Civil society
Clean technology
Energy resources
Political science
Politics
Sustainable development
United Kingdom > UK
United States > US
Minnesota
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Summary:This paper examines some of the normative aspects of “community energy” programmes—defined here as decentralized forms of energy production and distributed energy technologies where production decisions are made as close as possible to sources of consumption. Such projects might also display a degree of separation from the formal political process. The development of a community energy system often generates a great deal of debate about both the degree of public support for such programmes and the values around which programmes ought to be organized. Community energy programmes also raise important issues regarding the energy choice problem, including questions of process, that is, by whom a project is developed and the influence of both community and exogenous actors, as well as certain outcome issues regarding the spatial and social distribution of energy. The case studies, drawn from community energy programmes in both the United States and the United Kingdom, allow for a careful examination of all of these factors, considering in particular the complex interplay and juxtaposition between the ideas of “public value” and “public values”.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su5041747