Abstract
Energy business shifts from the centralized organizations to networks of producers and consumers labelled as distributed energy generation. This global paradigm shift on energy markets is analyzed with focus on the European Union. The changes evolved during last three decades when the neo-liberal ideology dominated policies. The analysis is that imperfections caused by the vested interests on energy markets have motivated innovators to pursue downscaling of energy technologies based on the local, renewable resources. The innovative efforts invoked numerous local energy initiatives. Their motivations are presented. Local energy initiatives created conditions for adoption of the renewable energy technologies in communities entailing adaptations to the local conditions, which enabled the distributed energy systems. The energy enterprises constituted the fastest growing business in the European Union during 2008–2014. This growth can be attributed to policy support of the renewable energy supplies and to market demands for the distributed energy systems.
In memoriam of Cornelis Johannes van Leeuwen (22 January 1930–25 February 1993), safety manager of the Unilever and environmental activist that turn company to grow for sustainability.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Krozer Y. (2015). Theories and Practices on Innovating for Sustainable Development. Dordrecht-Heidelberg: Springer. I appreciate permission of Springer for publishing this paper
https://www.navigantresearch.com/research/distributed-energy-resources-global-forecast, Accessed 7 June 2017; http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/distributed-energy-generation-industry, Accessed 7 June 2017
The global energy market can be found in https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/u.s.-advanced-energy-revenue-grew-by-just-1-in-2016, Accessed 7 June 2017
https://www.statista.com/statistics/222082/projected-us-smart-grid-market-size-since-2009/
Krozer, Y.: Innovations and the Environment. Springer, London (2008)
The largest energy firms by revenues are state companies in Saudi Arabia, China, Kuwait, Russia and Brazil
Krozer, Y.: Chapter 11 (2015)
Economist, The Rise of the Hybrid Company, 3 December 2009
Christensen, C.M.: The Innovator’s Dilemma, 1st edn. Harper Business, New York (2000)
Among the first downscaled technologies were digester of organic waste and wind mill operating from 1986 on in Daersum a small village in the Frisian region (the Netherlands)
Walker, G., Devine-Wright, P.: Community : what should it mean? Energy Policy 36, 497–500 (2008)
Krozer, Y.: Renewable energy in European regions. Int. J. Innov. Reg. Dev. 4(1), 44–59 (2012)
von Hippel, E.: Democratisation Innovations, 1st edn. MIT Press, Cambridge (2005)
Toffler, A.: The third wave, 1st edn. Bantam Books, New York (1980)
Stevenson, H., Austin, J., Wei-Skillern, J.: Social and Commercial Entrepreneurship: Same, Different, or Both? Entrepreneurship Theory Pract. 51(1), 1–22 (2006)
Doherty, B., Haugh, H., Lyon, F.: Social enterprises as hybrid organizations: a review and research agenda. Int. J. Manag. Rev. 16, 417–436 (2014)
Clinton, L., Whisnant, R.: Model Behaviour 20 Business Model Innovations for Sustainable Development. SustainAbility, London (2014)
Ornetzeder, M., Rohracher, H.: User-led innovations and participation processes: lessons from sustainable energy technologies. Energy Policy 34, 138–150 (2006)
Ison, N.: Governance of Community Energy Projects. Lancaster Environment Center, Mimeo (2010)
Seyfang, G., Haxeltine, A.: Growing grassroots innovations: exploring the role of community-based initiatives in governing sustainable energy. Environ. Planning C: Gov. Policy 30, 381–400 (2012)
Boon, F.: Local is Beautiful. In: Master thesis, University of Utrecht - Geoscience (2012)
Dragoman, M.C.: Factors influencing local initiatives in different contexts. In: Thesis, University Twente (2014)
Rogers, J.C., Simmons, E.A., Convery, L., Weatherall, A.: Public perceptions of opportunities for community-based projects. Energy Policy 36, 4217–4226 (2008)
Hielscher, S., Seyfang, G., Smith, A.: Community Innovation for Sustainable Energy, Centre For Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia Norwich, Mimeo (2011)
Arentsen, M., Bellekom, S.: Power to the people: local energy initiatives as seedbeds of innovation? Energy Sustain. Soc. 4(2), 2–12 (2014)
Bertoldi, B., Boza-Kiss, B., Panev, S., Labanca, N.: ESCO Market Report 2013. Joint Research Centre, Ispra (2014)
Council of European Energy Regulators, Status Review of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Support Schemes in EU, Brussels
Per enterprise, the European average GDP was about €0.5 million but the spread was from €0.12 million in Bulgaria to €1.45 million in Luxemburg and €1.13 million in Denmark, i.e. 12 respectively 10 times higher
https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/showtext.php?t=ptb0709
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Krozer, Y. (2018). Energy Initiatives in Europe. In: Visa, I., Duta, A. (eds) Nearly Zero Energy Communities. CSE 2017. Springer Proceedings in Energy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63215-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63215-5_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63214-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63215-5
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)