The feasibility and relevance of a community-based energyautonomy: physical, social and institutional factors

The issue of a community-based energy autonomyis increasingly present in policy discourses. Such initiativesare supposed to reduce carbon footprint, while loweringdependence on external energy and creating new jobs.However, it is not clear whether such initiatives are efficientor even feasible on a large scale. This article examines thedifferent factors that need to be taken into account, from thephysical resources for renewable energy to the social andinstitutional factors (such as the intensity of social life orpolitical cooperation). This article attempts to fill the gapin the literature on the role of nonmarket factors inregional development and the flourishing literature onrenewable energy. By examining the physical distributionof resources in France, we show that there are manydifferent pathways for increasing energy autonomy. Onlya limited part of the French territory can achieve trueautonomy, and this could be detrimental to industrialdevelopment. Thus, there should be a close coordinationbetween national, regional and local levels of theadministration. In order to examine the role of social andinstitutional factors on community-based energy autonomyinitiatives, we performed an econometric analysis on theresults of a national program aiming at fostering them. Theresults suggest a significant role for these factors in theemergence of these initiatives, which implies that policyinstruments should take them into account