Practices and acts of energy citizenship

Abstract

Both academic and political discussion on energy citizenship have, to a high degree, focused on participation of enthusiastic and knowledgeable citizens as a catalyst for energy system transformation. Likewise, discussion on energy democracy calls for increased and informed public participation in the energy system and its transition. However, to better understand the dynamics of citizen participation in the energy transition, we need to understand the non-constructive side of citizenship as well as the complexity of democratic processes. In this article, we build on research with housing cooperatives in Finland as emerging energy communities to discuss alternative and complementary forms of energy citizenship and their role in developing better energy democracy. We focus on acts of citizenship to illustrate these various forms of participation, which include active resistance towards policy agendas, such as sustainable energy initiatives, in the processes of collective decision making. Moreover, we employ a practice-theoretical approach to picture the interconnectedness of decision making and everyday life, having implications for performing energy citizenship. Our framework broadens the concept of energy citizenship and discusses the implications of these various forms of participation for energy democracy.