Reconfiguring actors and infrastructure in city renewable energy transitions: A regional perspective

Hoicka, Christina E.; Conroy, Jessica; Berka, Anna

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112544

Cited by 24 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 79 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Equally, De Laurentis (2020) notes the complex interrelationship between regional and national levels in developing renewable energy pathways. But rarely are such multi-scalar relationships considered through more extensive research beyond individual or limited comparative cases and this warrants further investigation (Hoicka et al, 2021). Furthermore, the transitions literature most often considers a socio-technical regime as a bounded entity located at a national scale, but this vision of the landscape of transition is limited (Bulkeley et al, 2014; Späth and Rohracher, 2014).…”

Section: The Spatial Politics Of Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The state of municipal energy transitions: Multi-scalar constraints and enablers of Europe’s post-carbon energy ambitions

Traill

Cumbers

2022

European Urban and Regional Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is increasing enthusiasm at urban and municipal scales for leading sustainability transitions, amid higher level endorsement and even expectation of such leadership. Yet this downscaling of responsibility for transition requires a greater critical focus. It raises questions of how evenly spread the capacity to lead on this is, and how it relates to the complex and differentiated multi-scalar governance structures and political landscapes within which municipal actors are situated. This article draws upon evidence from a mixed methods comparative and multi-scalar analysis across Europe exploring the different pressures and potential that exist for municipalities. Our central aim is to critically interrogate what municipalities are doing to achieve a post-carbon energy transition beyond lofty aspirations. Departing from the tendency to focus on paradigmatic success stories, our research on the different conditions affecting municipalities across the continent suggests that the focus so far on case studies and techno-social solutions is insufficient for considering the broader geographical patterns and multi-scalar tensions of transition. Our findings suggest that while municipalities are alive to the opportunities to lead on sustainability transitions, we need a clearer understanding of the ways that policy and politics at national and international scales shape political capacities for action. There are clear limits to independent municipal action, particularly without more supportive interventions at higher scales. The increased urgency for sustainability transitions requires far more multi-scalar and trans-local coordination than that exists at present, although the building blocks of such work may be beginning to emerge.

show abstract

Section: The Spatial Politics Of Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The state of municipal energy transitions: Multi-scalar constraints and enablers of Europe’s post-carbon energy ambitions

Traill

Cumbers

2022

European Urban and Regional Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This must be done not only by encouraging the reduction of the absolute energy consumption values, but also through the implementation of technological advances and the increase of the energy efficiency of all the processes involved. In this sense, a discourse to connect the municipal role for energy generation and consumption transitions in a decentralized context is being developed worldwide [8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Outdoor Public Lighting Installation Powered by a Hydraulic Turbine Installed in the Municipal Water Supply Network

Ocana-Miguel

Calderón

Díaz

2022

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sustainability and energy prices make the use of energy obtained from renewable sources on an urban scale and for isolated local facilities necessary for municipal authorities. Moreover, when the demand of energy is at night, as for street lighting installations, the use of accumulative systems is necessary, which means a major drawback due to a short lifetime expectancy and high cost. The use of batteries can require more than 70% of the budget of these lighting systems and has a critical impact in the project. The problem to solve is finding different renewable energy sources that can produce energy throughout the day, especially during the night, at the same time at which it is consumed. As one of the competences of municipal authorities is water supply networks, this paper analyzes the use of energy recovery turbines within these installations as an alternative to photovoltaic generators. To study the viability and effectiveness of this alternative, the water flows available in the network of a medium-size municipality were monitored and analyzed in depth to assess the amount of recoverable energy. In addition, an energy recovery turbine (ERT) station was set up, installing a bypass around one of the pressure-reducing valves (PRV) of the installation where energy is dissipated without practical use. The results obtained imply that the system proposed has economical and technical viability, is reliable and guarantees full service in all the seasons’ conditions. Moreover, the needs of the energy storage capacity are much lower (~8%) than with solar panels.

show abstract

“…In these communities, the role of identity and identity formation is important, as social practices in grassroots innovations often change [16]. Some authors [17][18][19] attribute the progress of energy transitions to the presence of territory-based grassroots initiatives. Blanchet [20] points out in the same direction that grassroots initiatives are of vital importance in local energy systems, not only because of their influence on the way local energy policy is made, but moreover because they offer a specific vision of the energy transition at the local level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, this article focuses more specifically on local authorities (related to municipalities and county-level authorities), since they have been recognised by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda [22,23] and the European Union as playing a key role in the energy transition and the climate emergency [24]. If the ambitious targets set by the European Green Deal [25] (no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, economic growth decoupled from resource use and no person and no place left behind) are to be achieved, there is now a widespread acceptance that action at the local and municipal level will be essential and possibly decisive (municipal ownership [26], bottom-up energy transitions [18,19]). It has been recognised that barriers and constraints to innovation can be both technological and social, but also that the local scale is important for innovation and social action [27,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Energy Transitions in Europe, towards Low-Socio-Environmental Impact Cities

Azurza

Basurko-PerezdeArenaza

Zelarain

et al. 2021

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Achieving the ambitious targets set by Europe in its 2050 roadmap, moving away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources, while reducing carbon emissions, will require a radical change in Europe’s energy system. Much of the action that will enable this energy transition to be realised in a democratic way is at the local level. It is at this level that many of the decisions regarding the energy transition desired by European citizens will have to be taken. The methodology used in this study is based on data collection, literature review, data validation and analysis. A part of this analysis will also be taken by the mPower project as a diagnostic baseline. The first finding of this research work is that energy transition data availability at the local level is quite low. Second, the local authorities are experiencing difficulties in decarbonising their energy consumption. Finally, the factor with highest positive relationships with other energy transition variables is the number of people employed in the field of energy transition. The results suggest that in order to lead a participatory energy transition, the workforce specifically dedicated to energy transition is a key factor, clearly differentiating it from staff working on the general energy field.

show abstract

Reconfiguring actors and infrastructure in city renewable energy transitions: A regional perspective

Cited by 24 publications

References 79 publications

The state of municipal energy transitions: Multi-scalar constraints and enablers of Europe’s post-carbon energy ambitions

The state of municipal energy transitions: Multi-scalar constraints and enablers of Europe’s post-carbon energy ambitions

Experimental Outdoor Public Lighting Installation Powered by a Hydraulic Turbine Installed in the Municipal Water Supply Network

Urban Energy Transitions in Europe, towards Low-Socio-Environmental Impact Cities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About