Les nouveaux systèmes énergétiques qui se mettent en place pour la transition énergétique nécessitent plus de coopération, plus de partenariats entre des partenaires plus variés (entreprises publiques, privées, coopératives, collectivités locales, ...), et plus de coordination pour une gestion efficace des réseaux (smart grids). Les textes rassemblés dans ce livre analysent les nouvelles configurations technico-institutionnelles qui articulent l'action de nombreuses parties-prenantes, tant au Nord qu'au Sud, et nécessitent de ce fait une gouvernance renouvelée et complexe.

This book draws on social science analysis to understand the ongoing dynamics within and surrounding local energy communities in reliably electrified countries: Belgium, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It offers a comprehensive overview of recent results and thus outlines a diversity of drivers and levers for scaling up energy communities or, at least, local energy sharing. Analysing the main types of energy communities such as collective self-consumption, citizen cooperatives and peer-to-peer digital platforms, the book does not only raise new questions for social scientists, but also offers a comprehensive overview for all those contributing to the circular economy and the decentralization of energy production in inhabited areas where energy consumption is concentrated. This book provides input for the ongoing debates in many European countries implementing the national law on the European directives for energy communities. Furthermore, without evading the antagonism between cooperative and market approaches, or the contradictions between different issues, the book outlines the innovative decision-making tools that can facilitate the development of local energy production and sharing systems. As well as being of interest to postgraduates and researchers in the field of energy studies, this book will be vital to energy professionals looking to support local energy communities’ decision-making and design, who wish to consider sociological, organizational and territorial dimensions.

Cette thèse explore la manière dont les collectivités locales s'emparent de la montée en puissance de la question énergétique afin de mener à bien un projet de transformation de ressources territoriales en énergie renouvelable utilisée localement. Le suivi et l'observation in vivo du syndicat mixte de traitement des déchets, Kerval Centre Armor (Saint-Brieuc Agglomération), sur la période 2015-2019, crée un observatoire, proche de l'action et de la réalité du terrain, révélateur des pratiques expérimentales de l'action de publique. Cette recherche montre comment, dans un cadre de capacités techniques, sociales, financières et politiques bien spécifiques, les projets énergétiques territoriaux peuvent éclore et trouver leur place dans un contexte de trajectoire de transition plus global.

This book explores the intrinsically multiscale issue of renewable energy transition from a local, national and transnational perspective, and provides insights into current developments in the Upper Rhine Region that can serve as an international model. Organised around the exploration of stakeholder issues, the volume first describes a framework for public action and modelling and then articulates a triple complementary focus from the viewpoint of law, economics and sociology. This multidisciplinary approach is anchored in the social sciences, but also explores the ways in which technological issues are increasingly debated in the implementation of the ecological transition. With a focus on the Upper Rhine Region of France, Germany and Switzerland, the contributions throughout analyse how concrete regional projects emerge, and whether they are carried out by local authorities, private energy groups, network associations or committed citizens. From this, it appears that real-world energy transition modes can be best understood as permanent transactional processes involving institutional regulations, economic levers and barriers and social interactions. This book will be of interest to advanced students and scholars focusing on renewable energy transition, stakeholder issues, environment and sustainability studies, as well as those who are interested in the methodological aspects of the social sciences, especially within the fields of sociology, law, economy, geography, political science, urbanism and planning.

La transition énergétique appelle à développer la part des énergies de sources renouvelables dans notre mix énergétique. Cet accroissement ne peut être atteint qu'en mettant en place un cadre juridique adapté, notamment en ce qui concerne la gouvernance publique de la matière. En effet, les énergies de sources renouvelables amènent à repenser la relation entre l'Etat et les collectivités territoriales sous l'angle, non plus de la centralisation ou de la décentralisation, mais de la co-administration et de la co-responsabilité. Les acteurs publics doivent agir ensemble pour atteindre les objectifs, tant nationaux qu'européens, fixés dans [la] lutte contre le changement climatique. La gouvernance partagée des énergies d'origine renouvelables est un exemple de cette collaboration entre les autorités publiques qui cherchent à coordonner leurs mesures.

Move from feeling anxious about the oil crisis to developing a positive visions and taking traction action to create a more self-reliant existence with this ground-breaking book. We live in an oil-dependent world, and have become reliant in a very short space of time, using vast reserves of oil in the process – and without planning for when the supply is not so plentiful. Most of us avoid thinking about what happens when the oil runs out (or becomes prohibitively expensive), but the reality may not be as bad as we think. The Transition Handbook shows how the inevitable and profound changes ahead could have a positive effect. Written by permaculture expert Rob Hopkins, he discusses the possibility of a rebirth of local communities, which will generate their own fuel, food and housing. These will encourage the development of local currencies, to keep money in the local area, and unleash a local 'skilling-up', so that people have more control over their lives. The growth in interest in the Transition model continues to be exponential. There are now more than 35 formal Transition Initiatives in the UK, including towns, cities, islands, villages and peninsulas, with more joining as the idea takes off. With little proactivity at government level, communities are taking matters into their own hands and acting locally. If your community has not yet become a Transition Initiative, this upbeat guide, filled with beautiful black and white photographs, offers you the tools to get started. The Transition Handbook is the perfect manual to guide communities, as they begin this 'energy descent' journey.

Energy related infrastructures are crucial to political organization. They shape the contours of states and international bodies, as well as corporations and communities, framing their material existence and their fears and idealisations of the future. Ethnographies of Power brings together ethnographic studies of contemporary entanglements of energy and political power. Revisiting classic anthropological notions of power, it asks how changing energy related infrastructures are implicated in the consolidation, extension or subversion of contemporary political regimes and discovers what they tell us about politics today.