Territory and energy sustainability: the challenge of renewable energy sources

Abstract

The issue of energy production is assuming an ever more pivotal role in the most recent international debate on sustainable development. In particular, the development of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is seen as a great opportunity to achieve sustainability objectives and targets. This consideration reinforces the great debate on the active role of the local dimension in achieving sustainability objectives. A RES-based energy model implies complex re-organisation of the territory with, usually, increased decentralisation of energy production and consumption and the use of widely-diffused energy resources. This paper argues that utilisation of RES implies the need for careful consideration of their relationship with the territory and, more generally, with the local scale. The real commitment of the local scale in promoting RES development depends on the multiple possible relations that exist between renewable energy and socio-economic complexity, on the one hand, and ecosystem complexity, on the other. This paper aims to achieve three main objectives: (1) establish the role of the local dimension in the most recent debate on sustainable development; (2) illustrate how multiple relationships between RES and the territory may be represented; (3) verify how, through RES, the local dimension can actively contribute to pursuing sustainable development objectives.renewables, territory, ecosystems, sustainability,

Biofuels for transportation in 2030: feedstock and production plants in a Swedish county

“…For example in line with the arguments of Bagliani et al [17], a local, shortterm perspective considering existing facilities and technology and the economic feasibility for biofuel producers is more valuable for "implementers" than a very general study mainly comprising theoretical potentials.…”

“…Further on, they observe that national plans are not constructed as a "sum of regional plans" and conclude that national level work needs to recognize directions of work at ground level if it aims at delivering a realistic picture of what can be achieved [16]. Similarly, Bagliani et al [17] argue that adoption of renewable energy sources requires careful consideration of the local scale.…”

Local Development in Fragile Areas: Re-territorialization Processes in an Alpine Community

“…Magnaghi 2005), and which has been progressively adopted in the European documents (since the ESDP: CEC 1999). In short, territory cannot be simply conceived as a surface defined by a boundary and under the control of a set of politico-administrative institutions, or as the physical basis on which to allocate activities and structures, but rather as the result of the complex relationships among the local society, the natural heritage and the historical organization of space (Bagliani, Dansero, and Puttilli 2010;Balducci 2011, 34, note). From an 'endogenous development' point of view, 'territorial space replaces functional space', because '[a]n internal dynamics of development replaces space as a "simple" support of economic functions' (Moulaert and Sekia 2003, 297), while, in a social perspective, territorial development implies that the different forms of capital (ecological, economic, social-institutional and human) must be connected and oriented towards spatially located shared objectives (Moulaert and Nussbaumer 2008).…”

Towards a smart city: an integrative spatial perspective on energy transition

“…The potential benefits associated with smart grids are in line with the idea of smart city: they are designed to bring improved grid stability, security, efficiency and reliable integration of RES that are largely variable in time and space at both large and smaller scales (Giordano et al 2011;Kempener et al 2013). In this regard, the need for careful consideration of the relationship between renewable energy, its potential integration within the (smart) power grid and their localised context needs to be taken into account and investigated in more detail (Solomon et al 2003;Bagliani et al 2010).…”