This book outlines how Germans convinced their politicians to pass laws allowing citizens to make their own energy, even when it hurt utility companies to do so. It traces the origins of the Energiewende movement in Germany from the Power Rebels of Schönau to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s shutdown of eight nuclear power plants following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. The authors explore how, by taking ownership of energy efficiency at a local level, community groups are key actors in the bottom-up fight against climate change. Individually, citizens might install solar panels on their roofs, but citizen groups can do much more: community wind farms, local heat supply, walkable cities and more. This book offers evidence that the transition to renewables is a one-time opportunity to strengthen communities and democratize the energy sector – in Germany and around the world.

This book examines the coordination of renewable energy policies in the European Union using an innovative theoretical approach to explain national policy making. David Jacobs asks, why are national support instruments for electricity from renewable energy sources converging, even though the harmonisation of these frameworks at the European level has failed? Which causal mechanisms lead to cross-national policy similarities? And what are the implications for policy coordination in the EU? The author traces the evolution of feed-in tariffs - the most successful and most widely used support mechanism for renewable electricity - in Germany, Spain and France. He reveals increasing cross-national policy similarities in feed-in tariff design - despite the failure of harmonizing instruments at the European level. He explains these increasing policy similarities by applying policy convergence theory. Policy convergence can occur voluntarily, based on transnational communication, regulatory competition and technological innovations and these findings have important implications for European policy steering. The key to this book is the interrelation of an innovative theoretical concept (coordination of policies in the international arena via voluntary cooperation) with a very topical empirical research focus - the promotion of renewable energies in the EU. It will be essential reading for scholars and students of environmental policy, comparative politics and European studies.

This volume addresses renewable energy communities, and in particular renewable energy cooperatives (REScoops), in the context of the revised EU Renewables Directive. It provides a comprehensive account of the history and development of the renewable energy community movement in over six different countries of continental Europe. It addresses their visions, strategy, organisation, agency, and more particularly the challenges they encounter. This is of particular importance to gain more understanding into how renewable energy communities fare in domestic energy markets where they are confronted with regime institutions, structures and incumbents’ agency that tend to favour maintaining of the status quo while blocking attempts to empower and institutionalise renewable energy communities as market entrants having a disruptive, radical green and localist agenda. This volume will be an invaluable reference for academics and practitioners with an interest in social innovation in sustainable transitions, the role of community energy in energy markets, their agency, as well as an outlook to the impact that the EU Renewables Directive may have to change national legislation and policy frameworks to create a level playing field that is essentially more fair and beneficial to renewable energy communities.

In this ground-breaking book, Jörg Radtke offers for the first time within research, a comprehensive insight into the range of organizational structures of community energy projects in Germany and their contribution to the Energiewende. Based on nationwide quantitative survey data and in-depth analyses of selected case studies of solar, wind and geothermal projects, Radtke documents the social structure and motivations of participating citizens. He examines new forms of material participation, community building and co-determination within the mostly volunteer-led community energy projects based on the civic engagement patterns of active “green citizens”. The author identifies a new form of individualistic participation and collective modes of action in line with new types of project-oriented participation between business, politics and civil society within sustainability transformation processes of the early 21st century.

Community energy projects give their own answers to the challenges of energy system change: They are social innovations. By building new relations between local economies, communities and technical infrastructures, these projects not only change the energy system but also respective power structures. Drawing on case studies from Germany, Denmark and Scotland, this book shows the importance of community ties, and shared symbols for successful processes of transformation and develops recommendations for policy decision-makers.

Energy Communities explores core potential systemic benefits and costs in engaging consumers into communities, particularly relating to energy transition. The book evaluates the conditions under which energy communities might be regarded as customer-centered, market-driven and welfare-enhancing. The book also reviews the issue of prevalence and sustainability of energy communities and whether these features are likely to change as opportunities for distributed energy grow. Sections cover the identification of welfare considerations for citizens and for society on a local and national level, and from social, economic and ecological perspectives, while also considering different community designs and evolving business models. - Defines and conceptualizes the energy community for the current generation of researchers and practitioners facing the energy transition - Explores the main benefits and challenges in forming energy communities and to what extent they are welfare-enhancing - Examines under what terms, conditions, regulations or policies energy communities can be beneficially and successfully organized and why - Reviews the combination of business models and forms of organization which are conducive to economic feasibility and the commercial success of energy communities

This book bridges the gap between strengthening the ‘employee brand’ and the building ‘external brand image’ by synthesizing the two approaches. The result is a blurring of the boundaries and assigning creative powers to both. A customer has a number of interactions with the company, and each of these interactions has an impact on the brand equity account – either positive or negative. Examples of interactions include: the product itself, the purchasing process, the consumption experience, the ‘face’ of the organization, the call center, media etc. The real issue for the company is how to translate the optimized ‘ideal’ customer journey into effective company programmes, how to track their progress and their actual impact on brand equity, customer satisfaction and loyalty. This book takes a holistic view to brand management and distills this complex system into palatable chunks, involving all functions of the company. The book demonstrates the effect of an organization that facilitates and rewards employee brand commitment on ‘external brand equity (eg: customer satisfaction and loyalty) and ‘internal brand equity’ (eg: product improvement and innovation potential resident in the organization). While the more obvious benefits of this approach include the usual suspects such as increased sales and revenues, less obvious benefits include employee stress reduction through the elimination of tensions and incongruity between external and internal value systems. The result is a significant contribution to creativity, brand commitment, overall employee satisfaction and, finally, a company’s ability to attract and retain talent. The above is achieved via a very practical, step-by-step guide, lavishly illustrated with case studies from over 100 fascinating brands (the authors have researched and surveyed companies such as: Aer Lingus, BMW, BP, Deutsche Bank, Ducati, Edun, Google, innocent drinks, Lacoste, Lego, Manner, Maggi, Orange, Old Mutual, Rabobank, Sony, SOS Childrens Villages, Siemens, Thomas Sabo, TED/United, TUI, UBS, Vauxhall, Wal-Mart, Wikimedia, any many more) the authors are able to paint a very real picture of the issues facing business and provide powerful solutions. Refreshingly, this book draws on examples from across the globe, giving the book cultural depth. Each case helps demonstrate the arguments put forward by the authors. After reading this book the audience should be able to answer the following questions: How can I build a strong brand? Where do I start? Which analyses do I have to conduct? Who needs to be involved? How can I make sure every part of the organisation lives the brand? How can I revive the brand ? How can I create a new and relevant connection between the brand and key target audiences? How can I develop and expand the brand? How can future orientation become part of the brand? How can I best structure the brand portfolio? Which role should each of the brands adapt in order to optimise results? How do I best manage the brand? How do I cultivate and empower brand enthusiasts in the organisation? How do I foster and leverage networked collaboration?