Rafael Lembi , Maria Claudia Lopez , Karina Ninni Ramos , Igor Cavallini Johansen , Lázaro João Santana da Silva , Manoel Roberval Pimentel Santos , Gabriel Yúri Campos Lacerda , Gisele Souza Neuls , Emilio Moran
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Participatory processes that emphasize energy justice and energy sovereignty are essential to provide electricity for those in need in just and sustainable ways. For isolated, off-grid communities, access to electricity remains a significant challenge, especially in the Global South. Participation is critical to ensuring the viability and sustainability of off-grid energy systems in remote areas, as communities need to be self-reliant in managing and maintaining their own systems. However, experiences of participatory co-design of community-owned, off-grid energy systems – including participation in the steps of planning, dimensioning, installation, training, and management – are still underreported in the literature. In collaboration with three off-grid communities in the municipality of Santarém in the Brazilian Amazon, we conducted a participatory co-design process that delivered photovoltaic systems and a hydrokinetic turbine, using microgrids to improve energy access. We describe and discuss how participation was facilitated through transdisciplinary methods, including participatory workshops, surveys, observations, and direct engagement with community members. Our theoretically grounded approach to community engagement advances both the theory and practice of place-based, just energy transitions. Moreover, it also offers a practical example of how energy justice and energy sovereignty could be empirically practiced by academics and practitioners alike.
期刊介绍:
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers.
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.