Positive Energy Districts in Europe: one size does not fit all

Abstract

The success of decarbonisation will largely depend on how the policies on energy transition are introduced, implemented, and subsequently received by the targeted entities. This study uncovers possible ways of enabling a regulatory framework for achieving Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) based on the local context with a human-centred focus. We address the four prerequisites of the PED pathway and discuss cultural configurations to explore how they affect the energy transition in three of the case studies - Amsterdam, Vienna, and Lisbon - to demonstrate differences in their contexts. The analysis in this study is based on the primary data, collected via semi-structured interviews conducted with stakeholders from the observed regions. The interviews were a foresight exercise, where the participants proposed desired pathways towards the development of PEDs. Based on their different cultural configuration context, we posit that distinct approaches in energy transition are essential for the effective formation of PEDs. We argue that policy interventions on decarbonisation should be tailored to different situations and bringing the cultural perspective into policy design is one way of incorporating the differences in contexts. As the policies are implemented at different governmental levels, future research on to what extent the differences in cultural configurations play role in multi-level governance in decarbonisation will be important.