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Does Energy Community Membership Change Sustainable Attitudes and Behavioral Patterns? Empirical Evidence from Community Wind Energy in Germany

Author

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  • Jörg Radtke

    (Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Straße 2, 57068 Siegen, Germany)

  • Özgür Yildiz

    (Department of Environmental Economics and Economic Policy, Technische Universität Berlin, Str. des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
    Ifok GmbH, Reinhardtstraße 58, 10117 Berlin, Germany)

  • Lucas Roth

    (Kelso-Professorship for Comparative Law, East European Economic Law and European Legal Policy, European University Viadrina, Grosse Scharrnstr. 59, 15230 Frankfurt (Oder), Germany)

Abstract

Community energy is seen as a helping hand for local, decentralized energy transition. Besides the main goal of supporting the community-friendly and socially acceptable development of renewable energies, the hope is also that a pro-environmental influence on sustainability behavior will be triggered when joining a community energy project. An analysis of a survey among 16 community energy projects in Germany, with 565 completed questionnaires, shows that a certain part of the members pays more attention to their energy behavior and develop a more positive attitude towards a decentralized energy transition and citizen participation after joining the community energy project. Therefore, we can empirically support that climate protection projects, such as community energy, influence pro-environmental attitudes and behavior, but this does not apply equally to all population groups. Members with higher income and stronger interest in returns are less likely to change their behavior. Based on these findings, we recommend the development of community energy policies that are more responsive to differences in social structure and address both privileged and underprivileged groups in a sophisticated way using specific offers and modes of involvement within the associations.

Suggested Citation

  • Jörg Radtke & Özgür Yildiz & Lucas Roth, 2022. "Does Energy Community Membership Change Sustainable Attitudes and Behavioral Patterns? Empirical Evidence from Community Wind Energy in Germany," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-17, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:3:p:822-:d:731777
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Shafiee Roudbari, Erfan & Kantor, Ivan & Menon, Ramanunni Parakkal & Eicker, Ursula, 2024. "Optimization-based decision support for designing industrial symbiosis district energy systems under uncertainty," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 367(C).
    2. Lindvall, Daniel, 2023. "Why municipalities reject wind power: A study on municipal acceptance and rejection of wind power instalments in Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    3. Baxter, Jamie & Ellis, Geraint & Wilson, Sara & McAteer, Ben, 2024. "Community-based wind energy development does not work? Empirical evidence from residents in Canada and Ireland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    4. Roth, Lucas & Lowitzsch, Jens & Yildiz, Özgür, 2023. "Which (co-)ownership types in renewables are associated with the willingness to adopt energy-efficient technologies and energy-conscious behaviour? Data from German households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    5. Myriam Caratù & Valerio Brescia & Ilaria Pigliautile & Paolo Biancone, 2023. "Assessing Energy Communities’ Awareness on Social Media with a Content and Sentiment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-28, April.
    6. Liujie Xu & Yuan Zhong & Xi He & Xiong Shi & Qingbin Song, 2022. "Perception and Behavioural Changes of Residents and Enterprises under the Plastic Bag Restricting Law," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-15, June.

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