Landscape Energy conflicts: seven myths and the need for collaborative and adaptive management.

Todos los nuevos desarrollos pueden crear problemas, especialmente en lugares con alta densidad de población. En el paisaje Europeo existen ya muchos tipos de usos del espacio así como usuarios de estos paisajes. Ahora que los gobiernos tienen como uno de sus objetivos la creación de parques eólicos, huertos solares, cultivos energéticos, etc., los conflictos en relación con energías renovables al nivel del paisaje se multiplican. Con diferentes tipos de usuarios de recursos locales (stakeholders) y diferentes públicos involucrados directa o indirectamente, estos conflictos tienden a politizarse fuertemente. Esto se cristaliza en el lenguaje y el tipo de argumentos usados por los partidarios y los oponentes de desarrollos de energía renovable, donde se presentan hechos, cuando en realidad la ciencia es más sutil, compleja y fragmentaria o incluso completamente ausente (patchy or altogether lacking). Esta es la forma en que, en este debate politizado, se crean mitos. En este artículo prestamos atención a algunos de estos mitos. Si bien hay diversos e interesantes estudios empíricos relacionados con paisajes de energía renovable, nuestro objetivo es contribuir a un mejor entendimiento teórico sobre estos temas. Nuestra contribución está basada en dos teorías que hacen una aportación novedosa en este debate. Any new development can create conflicts, especially in a crowded place. The European landscape already has many users and uses. Now that governments are aiming to have more wind farms, solar farms, energy crops etc., energy-landscape confl icts are growing in number. With many different stakeholders and publics being directly and indirectly involved, these confl icts can become strongly politicized. This is clearly reflected in the language and arguments used by supporters and opponents of renewable energy developments, whereby often facts are presented when in reality the science is more subtle, complex, patchy or altogether lacking. This is how myths are created in this politicized debate and we draw attention to some of these. Whilst there are many interesting empirical studies appearing on energy-landscape issues, we set out to contribute a more theoretical understanding. We make a novel contribution to the debate by drawing on two theories. The theory of pastoralism is used to picture the land as unspoiled, and the theory of complex-adaptive systems is used to indicate the nature of the processes by which such problems can be overcome. We propose that individual renewable energy developments should be seen as on-going landscape experiments and that the management of these experiments needs to be both adaptive and collaborative in order to facilitate an inclusive process of learning-by-doing for all parties involved

Housing retrofit:Six types of local authority energy service models

Given the ambitious policy target to become net zero carbon by 2050, what role can local authorities play in the decarbonisation of housing? An examination is presented of six local authority energy service models relevant to housing retrofit in Britain. Local authorities have an important role, with local knowledge about housing stock and economic opportunities; they also have relevant planning and governance responsibilities. However, relatively little is known about either the different energy service models adopted for retrofit or their relative effectiveness. Models identified from empirical case study research constitute experimental innovations resulting from constrained finances and competition requirements in public services. They provided (1) energy-efficiency upgrades to public, residential and commercial buildings and/or (2) district heating infrastructure to secure ‘upstream’ resource efficiencies. Findings show that local initiatives provided different retrofit mixes, with differing potential for effective change. The limitations of current models are considered, along with the policy and market changes needed to empower local authorities to contribute systematically to net zero carbon buildings.  'Policy relevance' How can British local authorities organise energy-efficiency retrofit in buildings? Six energy service models are identified which deliver on-site energy-efficiency upgrades and/or area-based efficient heating infrastructure. Reductions to energy demand from these models tend to fall short of the radical changes required by UK net zero 2050 goals. Whilst the energy service models provide examples of local innovation and effectiveness, much more ambitious policy is essential to enable a step change in energy service models for retrofit. Policy and regulatory changes are needed: first, to reform the energy retail market to support energy services geared to reducing demand; and second, to empower local authorities and their partners to scale up whole-area retrofitting, including privately owned buildings

Decarbonising suburbia: Homeowners’ perspectives on home retrofits and travel mode shift in Perth, Scotland

Suburban neighbourhoods pose challenges to decarbonisation, due to high car-dependency and relatively large and energy inefficient homes. Home ownership dominates suburbia, thus putting responsibility on households to adopt measures to decarbonise their domestic lives and transportation. This paper examines household perspectives on the feasibility of such measures. We ran a survey and focus groups in Perth (Scotland) during the energy crisis. Whilst we found high levels of concern about climate change, energy costs, and growing engagement with cleaner technologies (e.g. heat pumps), most residents felt decarbonisation options were limited. Barriers like technologies’ up-front costs, worsened with the cost of living crisis. Participants had low familiarity with sharing economy approaches like car clubs. Despite high (non-electric) bike ownership and prevalence of storage space (garages), cycling was more perceived as a leisure activity than a regular transport mode. There were shared views that the state should take a stronger role in coordinating and implementing systemic changes required for energy transition, including measures affecting residents directly, like reducing car traffic into the city centre. We conclude that despite the economic privilege of high home and car ownership in suburbia, few felt financially able to decarbonise and most seem locked into high-carbon suburban lifestyles