PhD Candidate Susan Morrissey Wyse and her supervisor Professor Christina E. Hoicka, in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, published a research paper that considered Local Energy Plans (LEPs) from a community perspective – that is, in a way that emphasized participation of local community members through ownership and control of energy. This is referred to as Community Energy or CE.
The two determined that LEPs are relevant to CE, and they represent a promising avenue for pursuing CE objectives. These objectives can be achieved by emphasizing the three components of CE – community participation, capacity and ownership – throughout LEP processes and actions. This highly original research has interwoven democracy and justice with sustainable energy transitions.
This research, conducted in the social exergy + energy lab, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and a Canada Graduate Scholarship, as well as the PowerStream Chair at York, was published in Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability (2019).
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