Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17234/SocEkol.25.1.9
The Bioenergy Village movement in Germany – Agrarian Backwardness or Future Oriented Re-organization of the Energy System?
Gerhard Fuchs
orcid.org/0000-0002-3383-6969
; University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Abstract
Germany is in the process of transforming its system of electricity generation and distribution. The transformation process was advanced by a number of civil society actors keen on dismantling the old
centralised, undemocratic, environmentally unsound and unhealthy system, and replacing it with a new one, closer to the people, decentralised and using renewable energies. One type of transformative activity is linked to the bioenergy village movement, which can be found in mainly agricultural areas and which largely relies on biomass as a transition technology. To date a systematic analysis of these attempts is lacking. This paper will place relevant activities in the context of the German electricity transition and analyse the actors involved in this movement, their driving motivations and strategies. It will show that despite their small scale character, the movement constitutes an important building
block of a new electricity infrastructure. Further discussion will be made whether the theoretical framework chosen (theory of strategic action fields) to study the movement is well suited to analyse similar
processes of transformation.
The research performed was part of the German Helmholtz alliance “Energy-trans: Future infrastructures for meeting energy demands. Towards sustainability and social compatibility”.
Keywords
biomass; electricity transition; Germany; bioenergy villages; social entrepreneurs
Hrčak ID:
178364
URI
Publication date:
26.3.2017.
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