Journal
ENERGY RESEARCH & SOCIAL SCIENCE
Volume 6, Issue -, Pages 59-73Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2014.12.001
Keywords
Decentralization; Energy cooperatives; Energy transition; Trust; Participation; Civic engagement
Categories
Funding
- Volkswagen Foundation for the research project Infrastrukturelle Anpassungsleistungen an die Anforderungen derEnergiewende und des Klimawandels: Eine institutionen-und verhaltensokonomische Analyse von Umsetzungskonzepten und ihrer Steuerungsinstrumente [Az. 87024]
- DZ Bank-Stiftung for the ENERGENO project [S020/10198/11]
- scholarship program of the Heinrich Boll Stiftung
- European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
- Federal State of Lower Saxony within the project InnovationIncubator
- Kellner & Stoll - Stiftung for Klima und Umwelt
- Stiftung der Universitat Bremen
- BadenWurttemberg Research Program Securing a Sustainable Living Environment (BWPLUS) at the Project Management AgencyKarlsruhe at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology with funds of the State of Baden-Wurttemberg for the research project BENERKON
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The transformation of energy systems is influencing economic policy agendas all over the world, particularly in industrialized countries. In this process, Germany has taken a pioneering role, and hence the technical innovations, legal frameworks, and business models established there are also of interest for other countries trying to achieve broader use of renewable energies. Energy cooperatives have been an important building block in the energy transition in Germany, although their practical importance is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively reflected in the academic literature. Drawing on recently collected data, this paper presents an overview of German energy cooperatives in terms of organization, financing, and membership. We then review literature from economics and the social sciences that has been used to analyze cooperatives on various levels in other fields. We discuss how these theories could be applied to create a better understanding of energy cooperatives, and we derive a preliminary research agenda for their analysis. We also assess the scope for interdisciplinary work among economists, sociologists, and other disciplines. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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