Abstract
In this paper, we explore the potentialities and interconnections between existing and hypothetical community energy systems and the concept of generative justice. New York State’s more recent official energy plan, for instance, includes provisions for community-scale microgrids, and several European nations offer significant financial support to citizens interested in building micro and intermediate-scale renewable energy systems. Such efforts and technologies appear to promise some degree of generative justice, returning much of the value generated by distributed renewable energy back to the community producing it. However, most currently conceived and implemented community energy systems recirculate value in very narrow and limited ways. Building upon an analysis of New York energy policy and on-the-ground cases, we explore community energy’s potential. What kinds of value are being generated by community energy systems and for whom? How could such efforts be more generative of justice across a broad range of values, not just electrons and dollars? Through the attempt to broaden thinking not only about community energy systems but also the concept of generative justice, we connect technological and organizational configurations of community energy systems and the forms of value they have the potential to generate: including, the production of grassroots energy and organizational expertise, the capacity for local and personal autonomy in energy planning and decision-making, and the enhancement of an affective sense and embodied experience of community. Finally, we examine some of the barriers to realizing more generatively just community energy systems.
Highlights
Energy service provision –electricity in particular– has long been regulated with a circumscribed interpretation of the public interest in mind
We explore the potentialities and interconnections between existing and hypothetical community energy systems and the concept of generative justice
Building upon an analysis of New York energy policy and on-the-ground cases, we explore community energy’s potential
Summary
Energy service provision –electricity in particular– has long been regulated with a circumscribed interpretation of the public interest in mind. While the positive outputs of energy systems include the litany of modern marvels, conveniences, and quality of life increases associated with Progress, their negative outputs include greenhouse gas emissions, particulate air pollution, radioactive materials, and other environmental costs, as well as poverty and strained budgets through high fuel costs Given these disadvantages, alternative models of energy service provision are being developed that challenge centralized energy governance frameworks that rely on the centralized distribution of goods and bads, suggesting possibilities for energy systems better compatible with more sustainable and egalitarian ways of life. We will discuss the concept of generative justice and evaluate the leading models of community energy development according to their potential to recirculate a range of values that empower communities to engage in systems of energy service provision in more meaningful and substantial ways. We end with a discussion of what a more “generatively” just community energy system might look like as well as an exploration of the barriers to realizing that ideal
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