Abstract
While calls for, and work towards, energy democracy have been entrenched in social movements, and the concept has a burgeoning posture in academic discourse, perhaps the most significant implication for its development is the potential for its implementation at the local governance scale. In order for municipal efforts to be wholly democratic, energy policy must be accessible and responsive to the needs of all communities. This necessitates the convergence of an energy democracy paradigm with principles and practices of both energy justice and Just Sustainabilities that encourage communities and households' entree to the energy planning arena, as participants in policy making and with access to renewable innovations. By using a case study as its means of analysis, this paper will evaluate municipal scale energy programming by considering the prospects of energy democracy on a sub-state scale. In our analysis of Washington, DC's Sustainable Energy Utility, we highlight challenges that limit the potential for energy democracy in the nation's capital, along with practices that lead DC towards energy justice and democracy. We conclude by offering indicators for democratized urban energy planning.
Highlights
Claims for energy democracy envision the emergence of energy prosumers who are influential at all points in the life-cycle of energy, including as designers and analyzers (Communication Institute and University of Utah, 2017)
Urban energy democracy emphasizes the role of residents as consequential actors in energy planning and design, and who are featured in prominent roles in the delivery of energy services
An urban energy democracy should act in conjunction with broader urban sustainability planning goals, which are the totality of planning strategies centered on comprehensive development related to regional-scale environmental and ecological concerns
Summary
Received: 31 October 2017 Accepted: 07 February 2018 Published: 27 February 2018. Citation: Teron L and Ekoh SS (2018) Energy Democracy and the City: Evaluating the Practice and Potential of Municipal Sustainability Planning. In order for municipal efforts to be wholly democratic, energy policy must be accessible and responsive to the needs of all communities. This necessitates the convergence of an energy democracy paradigm with principles and practices of both energy justice and just sustainabilities that encourage communities and households’ entrée to the energy planning arena, as participants in policy making and with access to renewable innovations. In our analysis of Washington, DC’s sustainable energy utility, we highlight challenges that limit the potential for energy democracy in the nation’s capital, along with practices that lead DC toward energy justice and democracy.
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