Space for innovation for sustainable community-based biofuel production and use: Lessons learned for policy from Nhambita community, Mozambique

Schut, Marc; Paassen, Annemarie van; Leeuwis, C.; Bos, Sandra; Leonardo, Wilson; Lerner, Anna

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2011.05.053

Cited by 32 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Recently, Sperling [19] took a more structured approach to exploring the internal and external contextual conditions that enabled success in Samsø, Denmark. Since communities are "embedded in and constituted by dynamics between socio-cultural, biophysical, economic, political, and legal subsystems", [31] (p. 5117) community initiatives can be promoted or discouraged by those conditions [25,30]. Therefore, exploration of community energy initiatives needs to account for these conditions.…”

Section: Internal and External Context Related To Communities For Enementioning

confidence: 99%

A Community Energy Transition Model for Urban Areas: The Energy Self-Reliant Village Program in Seoul, South Korea

Kim

2017

Sustainability

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While community energy initiatives are on the rise, community actions for energy transition in Asian countries have rarely been studied. While it is difficult for community energy initiatives to develop spontaneously in Seoul, there are some success stories there. This study places these successes in context. It analyzes municipal documents, including unpublished materials from municipal meetings, in order to examine how the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) created enabling conditions for promoting community energy initiatives. This study also conducted interviews to explore unsolved issues related to the Energy Self-Reliant Village (ESV) program. The SMG encouraged collective action through financial, administrative, and informational support. Also, this study found that Seoul's ESV program fostered communities by raising the sense of locality and responsibility and community spirit through various educational programs. The ESV program supported the continuity of community by providing guidelines that relieved the burden on community members. The SMG played a significant role in promoting community engagement in energy transition by affecting internal and external conditions. This study provides meaningful insights that other municipalities, especially large urban areas, can follow to foster community actions for energy transition.

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Section: Internal and External Context Related To Communities For Enementioning

confidence: 99%

A Community Energy Transition Model for Urban Areas: The Energy Self-Reliant Village Program in Seoul, South Korea

Kim

2017

Sustainability

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“…The eventual fate of all these informal projects is not well documented, but it is probable that many never developed beyond the planning phase [23]. It should be noted that while most Mozambique projects tended to follow a large plantation model, there were a few small-scale projects, e.g., Envirotrade and FACT Foundation [63,64].…”

Section: A Reconstruction Of Early Jatropha Initiatives In Southern Amentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rise, Fall and Potential Resilience Benefits of Jatropha in Southern Africa

2014

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Jatropha is the latest in a list of "miracle crops" that have been promoted in southern Africa for their perceived development benefits. This was based on promises of high yields, low water requirement, ability to grow on marginal land and lack of competition with food. In less than 10 years, tens of thousands of hectares were acquired for jatropha plantations and thousands of hectares were planted, most of which are now unused or abandoned. Overestimations of jatropha yields coupled with underestimations of the management costs have probably been the prime contributors to the collapse of most jatropha projects in southern African. However, a few projects still survive and show signs of possible long-term sustainability. We consider two such projects, a smallholder-based project in Malawi and a large-scale plantation in Mozambique. Though their long-term sustainability is not proven, both projects may increase resilience by diversifying household income streams and contributing to national fuel security. By identifying what seems to be working in these projects we provide insights as to why other projects may have failed in southern Africa and whether there is still place for jatropha in the region. In essence can jatropha still enhance local/national resilience or are jatropha's benefits just a myth? OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2014, 6 3616

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“…Schut et al [16] state that 'space for innovation is embedded in and constituted by dynamics between socio-cultural, biophysical, economic, political and legal subsystems'. Socio-cultural attributes include the public perception of energy and of the role of communities in this and the attitude towards experimenting and innovation.…”

Section: Structure Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2014

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Background: Community initiatives for renewable energy are emerging across Europe but with varying numbers, success rates and strategies. A literature overview identifies structural, strategic and biophysical conditions for community success. Our analysis focuses on institutional structure, as we describe the variety between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, and place this within the institutional context of the policies, power structures and energy discourses of each country. Methods: We conducted a policy arrangements analysis with a series of semi-structured interviews, extensive content analysis of policy documents, media analysis and use of existing research, in a qualitative comparative analysis between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Results: We demonstrate that the (evolving) institutional configuration of the energy sector strongly influences the available space for community initiative development. Denmark has a traditionally civil society-friendly energy sector, although opportunities for communities have decreased following the scaling up of production facilities. The Netherlands knows a predominantly market-oriented institutional arrangement that leaves little space for communities, but the potential for community based energy is increasingly recognized. In Germany, the typically state-dominant Energiewende strategy creates a window of opportunity for community initiatives that fit within the state policy. Conclusions: We conclude that the institutional arrangement of the energy policy subsystem can both constrain or enable community energy projects. Decentralization appears to be one of the most important characteristics of the general institutional development and generally increases the institutional space for local (community) players. The alignment of discourses across government levels and actors is one of the important enabling features of an energy system, as it provides the stability and predictability of the system that enables communities to engage in renewable energy projects.

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Space for innovation for sustainable community-based biofuel production and use: Lessons learned for policy from Nhambita community, Mozambique

Cited by 32 publications

References 25 publications

A Community Energy Transition Model for Urban Areas: The Energy Self-Reliant Village Program in Seoul, South Korea

A Community Energy Transition Model for Urban Areas: The Energy Self-Reliant Village Program in Seoul, South Korea

The Rise, Fall and Potential Resilience Benefits of Jatropha in Southern Africa

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

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