Moving Towards Sustainable Community Renewable Energy : A Strategic Approach for Communities

Sammanfattning: The developed world relies on an enormous supply of electricity and heat energy to power countless daily activities, predominantly using non-renewable fossil fuels. Although this energy assists people in meeting their basic human needs, the way in which it is produced is at odds with the ability of people to continue to meet their needs in the future. The current trend towards renewable energy generation in the developed world that involves community members is a positive step away from current unsustainable energy practices. A Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) approach helps to guide planning and decision making by using a vision of a sustainable energy future to assist in undertaking strategic actions. To offer practical support to communities wanting to work towards sustainable energy generation, this research combines the experience of communities undertaking Community Renewable Energy projects with an SSD approach, producing a Sustainable Community Renewable Energy Tool.