Energy democracy is a concept developed within the

environmental justice movement Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...

that pairs the renewable energy transition with efforts to democratize the production and management of energy resources— including the

social ownership Social ownership is the appropriation of the surplus product, produced by the means of production, or the wealth that comes from it, to society as a whole. It is the defining characteristic of a socialist economic system. It can take the form o ...

of energy infrastructure, decentralization of energy systems, and expansion of

public participation Public participation, also known as citizen participation or patient and public involvement, is the inclusion of the public in the activities of any organization or project. Public participation is similar to but more inclusive than stakeholder en ...

in energy-related policymaking. Rather than view

decarbonization Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels b ...

as a purely technological challenge, energy democracy identifies the renewable energy transition as an opportunity to redistribute political and economic power toward egalitarian ends. Energy democracy has been endorsed by community organizations, think tanks, labor unions, and NGOs as a framework for decarbonization. The concept is also associated with a number of campaigns in Europe and North America calling for the

municipalization Municipalization is the transfer of private entities, assets, service providers, or corporations to public ownership by a municipality, including (but not limited to) a city, county, or public utility district ownership. The transfer may be from pr ...

of energy companies and democratization of their governance structures.

Principles

The exact definition of energy democracy is contested and the term is used to refer to a diverse set of proposals, practices, and ideas. However, advocates most often define energy democracy as embodying progressive principles they believe should guide contemporary

energy policy Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to contri ...

and governance— namely social ownership, public participation, and decentralization.

Social ownership

Advocates of energy democracy support a transition toward social ownership of energy companies and infrastructure, arguing that existing privately-owned utilities are poorly-suited to undertake rapid decarbonization and address concerns of

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...

. The call for social ownership encompasses both expansions of

public ownership State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownershi ...

(i.e.

and

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

) and the promotion of forms of

collective ownership Collective ownership is the ownership of property by all members of a group. The breadth or narrowness of the group can range from a whole society to a set of coworkers in a particular enterprise (such as one collective farm). In the latter (narro ...

(e.g.

energy cooperatives In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat an ...

Public participation

Energy democracy calls for expanding public participation in the renewable energy transition and the broader functionings of the

energy sector The energy industry is the totality of all of the industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and the energy indust ...

. In doing so, advocates argue that energy policy and decision-making will better incorporate local knowledge and the environmental justice concerns of local communities. Various mechanisms for public participation have been suggested, including the creation of democratically-elected energy oversight boards and the incorporation of public deliberation into the policymaking process.

Decentralization

Solar panels, wind turbines, and other renewable energy technologies allow for energy generation to be physically decentralized; advocates of energy democracy believe this energy decentralization could be a tool for empowering local communities and deconcentrating wealth and power. By building and managing energy infrastructure at the community-scale (e.g. community wind and

solar farms A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...

), communities avoid having to outsource energy generation to privately-owned utilities with regional monopolies. Additionally, advocates argue that decentralization can change community-wide relationships with energy consumption by turning community members into

prosumers A prosumer is an individual who both consumes and produces. The term is a portmanteau of the words '' producer'' and ''consumer''. Research has identified six types of prosumers: DIY prosumers, self-service prosumers, customizing prosumers, coll ...

with a direct stake in questions of production.

Campaigns

In 2012, a global coalition of trade unionists founde
Trade Unions for Energy Democracy
to organize workers in support of climate action and a

just transition Just transition is a framework developed by the trade union movement to encompass a range of social interventions needed to secure workers' rights and livelihoods when economies are shifting to sustainable production, primarily combating climat ...

to renewable energy. As of 2021, the network claims a membership of 89 trade union bodies in 26 countries. In 2021, th
New York Energy Democracy Alliance
joined other state advocacy organizations in forming the Public Power NY Coalition. The coalition is currently advocating for the passage of the New York Utility Democracy Act (S.B. S7243), which would municipalize the New York's private utility companies and create democratically-elected utility boards to oversee their operations.

References