The Axis of Community Energy

Community as a tag has been attached to a number of very differently organized energy projects with varying levels of community involvement. Some projects have the community largely as a passive beneficiary, while in other projects - such as those run as cooperatives - the community acts as initiator, investor and project manager, while in other projects again the ‘community’ constituent can be rather dubious altogether. So what counts as a ‘community’ energy project?

What is Community?

Community has become increasingly central as a focus for sustainability action in Australia with numerous initiatives and policies targeting the community as both the beneficiary and the agent of change; for example there is the Sustainable Communities Initiative, the National framework of Green Star Communities and the Community Energy Efficiency Programme to name but a few, In short community is currently somewhat of a catch phrase within the field of urban sustainability policy - and intuitively it feels good. 

Community focused action seems to represent a positive step-change away from traditional top-down legislation towards policy that aims to empower people and give them ownership over their future - something rare in a world dominated by big business interests and in which the citizen is viewed largely as a passive consumer. But what is this unit we are aiming to empower? If we pause for a minute to consider what a community actually is, it all starts to get a little foggy.