This Briefing Note provides an overview for communities, government and civil society actors interested in learning about experimental approaches to undertaking inclusive and collaborative community energy planning.
The role of communities has been identified as significant in the future success of Ireland’s transition towards a decarbonised energy system. At the community level, there are different understandings of, and attitudes to, sustainability and energy use. This is particularly evident in island communities where social interactions, activities and services are compositionally divergent from those in mainland communities. This report reveals how the complex issue of community low carbon energy transitions requires investigation from multiple disciplinary perspectives. The innovative transdisciplinary methodology developed, applied and analysed in this research enabled a holistic investigation of the role of situated energy knowledges and community knowledge networks in successful collaborative design for a community’s low carbon energy transition.