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Workshop Transversal Group City & Energy LabEx Urban Futures Champs-sur-Marne, 2019
Energy Transition,
Sustainability and Social Ties
Expertises and Transactions,
Four Case Studies in North East France
Philippe Hamman
Institute for Urbanism and Regional Development Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Strasbourg Laboratory SAGE (Societies, Actors and Government in Europe, UMR 7363)
SLIDE 2 Introduction Outline of the presentation:
- 1. Theoretical framework: Sustainability and energy
transition
- 2. Citizen wind power in rural areas: the example of
Saâles
- 3. Two contrasting urban sites in Strasbourg
- 4. Towards a normalization of inhabitant participation?
Energy transition and social housing Conclusion
SLIDE 3 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
- 1. Theoretical framework: sustainability & energy transition
1.1 Sustainability: consensus or conundrum?
- Sustainability combines economic, ecological and social concerns:
this implies necessary transactions and compromise.
- « Sustainable development »: transaction or oxymoron?
- Was presented as the alternative to unbridled economic growth
(Brundtland Report-1987, Rio Earth Summit-1992)
- Is part of a priori assumptions defining a « politics of
consensus » (Jacques Rancière, 1998): who could claim to disagree with the concern shown to the future of our planet, threatened by global warning, natural disaster and « global » hazards?
- Was popular in the 1990s-2000s: reframing of public policies;
concept used on different scales (European cities, Aalborg European Charter, 1994).
SLIDE 4 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
This apparent consensus conceals numerous disagreements on the type of future envisioned, even as these conceptions are used today as legitimizing arguments:
- The 2007-2008 global economic crisis exposed the fault lines in
the apparent consensus on sustainability: today, technological and economic principles are often opposed to ecological and social ones.
- Does sustainability mean breaking with the prevailing vision of
economic growth as synonymous with progress (=degrowth), in a world in which resources are limited and in which human activities inexorably link to resource depletion?
- Or can science and technology lead to the emergence of new
« sustainable » models of economic growth (« green growth », « smart cities »…?)
SLIDE 5 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
1.2 From sustainability to (energy) transition
- The notion of « transition » is often coupled with reference to the
energy sector → shows how important climate issues have become in sustainability policies (whatever their scale).
- Procedural issues are raised: how change is organized and governed
(≠ clean break with the past) → more widely shows that SD includes procedural and not only substantive (three pillars) elements: democracy and participation…
- Energy transition = the set of changes that need to be effected in our
ways of producing, consuming and thinking energy.
- A transactional perspective, based on the dialectical relation
between adaptation/disruption: transactions founded on patterns of continuity (ex.: speed limitation but primacy of cars, i.e. use of fossil energy, unchallenged, etc.) versus patterns of disruption (ex.: bikes) → Transition does not merely consist in technological change but raises truly political issues.
SLIDE 6 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
1.3 Social frames for thinking « energy transitions »:
= Linking three levels of analysis (and interests involved) together
- 1. The different energy industries ➔ The social dimension of
technological processes: the adoption of specific energy systems and energy sources entails political, economic, social and local
- consequences. Ex.: civilian nuclear energy in France.
- 2. Content ➔ There is a multiplicity of possible conceptions and
- rientations. Ex.: France and Germany took different views of
civilian nuclear power after Fukushima; + what energy « mix » is chosen.
- 3. Uses and degrees of appropriation ➔ How do « common »
citizens relate to energy transition? What possible strategies can be used to ensure effective participation in a Renewable Energy project?
SLIDE 7 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
1.4 Energy Transition: a multilevel process
- 1. The role of the market
- Technological innovations help develop new energy industries
(ex.: pholtovoltaic solar energy); permanence of a centralized model (leading energy companies).
- 2. Citizen regulation
- The quest for self-sufficiency, outside the energy industry
- Social perspectives on the energy transition, and reflections on
ways of life (energy-efficient…).
- 3. Hybrid processes on the local scale:
Transactions: Hybrid energy systems both inspired by:
- the cooperative movement (decentralization).
- a centralized model (the locally produced energy is distributed
through the existing, centralized network).
SLIDE 8 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
- 2. Citizen wind power in rural
areas: the example of Saâles
A middle mountain commune 829 inhab. in 2016 (880 in 2009) Underprivileged area: 15-64 yrs old unemployment rate: 17,5% in 2015 Compared to 10% in the Alsace region. Level of education : 41,1% have no diploma 34,7% hold secondary-level vocational degrees (CAP, BEP)
Observations and interviews on site Photo: Amandine Léonate, Saâles, 2013
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Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
Photo: Mairie de Saâles
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Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
Photo: Mairie de Saâles
SLIDE 11 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
2.1. The wind energy program in Saâles Nature of the transaction: Through the creation of a semi-public company, two wind turbines, out of ten, have been bought by the community. ✓The local authority owns 40% of the company ✓Citizen shareholders: Citizens can purchase shares of the company, up to 60% Objectives:
- Bringing inhabitants closer to the site of wind power
production (they can buy shares in the energy company)
- Stimulating citizen participation in energy transition
- Introducing the idea that energy can be locally produced
(even though it will fuel the centralized power grid)
SLIDE 12 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
2.2. Inhabitant participation as mere tokenism?
- Specialized associations → the project is managed by experts.
- Intervention of national and regional associations for the promotion of
energy cooperatives: function as a network, not on a local scale
- The inhabitants who would want to become shareholders are offered
standardized « advice packages », also adapted to other projects + their participation was summed up in the purchasing of shares, thus depending
- n selective economic criteria.
- The inhabitants are considered as a homogeneous, unchanging whole.
- Citizen participation cannot be taken for granted: the inhabitants are not
all interested in the process, or able to master the rules of the game.
- Partial/ unclear ideas about the schemes: some think that the
electricity produced is to be used for local needs (public lights, school…).
- It is difficult for inhabitants/users without technical skills to fully master
the schemes: the risk is that only the narrow circle of experts (elected representatives, technicians, members of specialized associations) who have designed them will play a role.
SLIDE 13 Methodology:
Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
- 3. Two contrasting urban sites in Strasbourg
- 1. Individual « green energy » producers: Plobsheim, a
residential suburb close to Strasbourg
Photo: commune de Plobsheim
SLIDE 14 Methodology:
Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
cogeneration heating network in the social housing estate of Cité de l’Ill. Quantitative research questionnaires (over 300 exploitable questionnaires, 150
sites) coupled with a dozen interviews of the inhabitants.
Photographie: renovation, Cité de l’Ill, Saskia Tomsu
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Methodology:
Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
Contrasting socio-economic profiles: Distribution of the inhabitants of Cité de l’Ill and Plobsheim by socio-professional categories (RRP, 2010, INSEE)
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Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
3.1. An unequal technical mastery over energy systems On the whole, the declarative data do not show any significant gap in the residents’ knowledge of the different types of renewable energy. Solar and wind energy have been widely promoted and are now well known among most social categories. Yet : There is a significant gap between Plobsheim and Cité de l’Ill when it comes to more technical terms (ex.: methanization) and when more precise questions are asked about the way energy processes and systems work.
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SLIDE 18 Methodology:
Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
3.2. Acceptation of energy technologies by the residents
Residents in Cité de l’Ill more
- ften declared that they would
accept the installation of Renewable Energy equipment in their field of vision from their neighborhood than residents in Plobsheim (who considered possible related nuisances?) Example: Wind turbines: 35% of the sample said they would ‘certainly’ accept them in Cité de l’Ill vs. less than 25% in Plobsheim.
SLIDE 19 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
- 4. Towards a normalization of inhabitant participation?
Energy transition and social housing
- Interactions between landlords and tenants in two social housing
estates of different size, where efforts to promote « sustainability » have resulted in attention to the buildings’ energy efficiency.
- The group surveyed – social housing tenants from the popular or
middle classes (the less endowed ones) – is rarely studied in surveys on urban sustainability: raises the issue of inhabitant participation. → How can these residents participate in the construction of what is presented as a common good, i.e. the sustainable and energy- efficient city, when they are less endowed than the others?
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Research methodology
→ Two surveys conducted in North East France between 2012 and 2015.
- Interreg IV Upper Rhine program « Renewable Energies » → site: Cité
de l’Ill in Strasbourg.
- FUI-BPI-FEDER CIMBEES applied research program: « Design and
industrialization of environmentally and socially energy-efficient building units » → site: a social housing estate in Saint-Dié.
Results: a similar environmental awareness, but a differing capacity to become involved in the energy transition
4.1 Energy schemes both calling for more involvement and prescribing norms for action → Production and reception of « eco-gestures » at Cité de l’Ill and in
Saint-Dié = Towards a normalization of resident participation, with residents limited to curbing their energy consumption?
SLIDE 21 Results and discussion:
Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
- In Cité de l’Ill : a campaign to
promote a new « eco-attitude » included a set of instructions in
- rder to curb domestic energy
consumption (heating, water…).
- Such guiding documents list the
best practices that need to be adopted to save energy. But they restrict the user’s freedom: for example, the residents are not able to set the thermostat to the temperature they desire, the maximum temperature (20°C) has already been fixed directly from the generation plant.
SLIDE 22 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
- In Saint Dié: a social housing
landlord aiming at energy efficiency
- PassivHaus label, energy-efficient
equipment (double-flow CMV system, heat pump…) and call for tenants to act in a « responsible » way.
- Ex. : Plainfaing (photo Le Toit
vosgien) : renovation / passive energy efficiency.
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- Opening the windows:
- The landlord explicitly advised not to open the windows
more than a few minutes each day: double-flow CMV systems ensure air exchange
- The tenants declared opening their windows on average 43
minutes every day, on a spectrum ranging from 0 minutes to 6 hours a day; half of the tenants surveyed open for more than half an hour, despite the financial deterrent.
- This is confirmed by the scant attention the tenants pay to
the display system: a clear majority (60,1%) declare they do not look at it, either because of lack of interest (38%), too little time (29%) or because they never think of it. This technological device has not managed to become part of the everyday life of the residents.
SLIDE 24 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
4.2. A shared environmental awareness, but differing possibilities of becoming involved
- Climate change has become a widely shared preoccupation:
the residents on the two sites show relatively ample and widespread knowledge on the subject.
✓Declared interest in ecology rises with level of education. ✓The more sophisticated the energy system, the greater the number of social housing tenants who do not understand the technical terms used (geothermy, biomass, thermal or photovoltaic solar energy). The gap between Cité de l’Ill and Plobsheim is confirmed.
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Distribution of the answers of the residents of the Cité de l’Ill social housing estate about the different types of energy sources (source: Marie Mangold, survey UMR SAGE)
SLIDE 26 Distribution of the answers of the residents of the energy-efficient social housing estate in Saint-Dié as to whether the different types of energy sources are renewable or not (source: Maël Lowenbrück, survey UMR SAGE)
Figure 6: Distribution of the answers of the residents of the energy-efficient social housing estate in Saint-Dié as to whether the different types of energy sources are renewable or not (source:
0,0% 1,8% 4,8% 38,6% 39,8% 54,8% 63,9% 91,6% Fuel oil Coal Natural gas Bioenergy Hydraulic energy Geothermal energy Wind energy Solar energies
SLIDE 27 Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
→ Conclusion : A shared concern, differing possibilities of becoming involved
- What differs is not so much the value different social groups
ascribe to the environment….
- But the possibility of actively contributing to energy
- transition. Participation cannot be taken for granted, it
depends on the ability to find one’s way in the maze of energy innovations.
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Energy Transition, Sustainability and Social Ties
Main food buying criteria of the residents of the energy-efficient social housing estate in Saint-Dié (source: Maël Lowenbrück, survey UMR SAGE)
→ Should not be overlooked a great deal of the social practices and ways of life which are related to ecology (ex.: eating habits) or linked to the environment and the natural world (ex.: leisure, community involvement).
3 10 34 61 62 88 144 Other reason Organic certification Locally-grown products Quality label Composition Expiry date Price
SLIDE 29 Conclusions → Three main conclusions can be drawn:
- First, transition can here be equated to a vertical, top-
down mode of regulation, constraining people to a normative use of the resources.
- Second, the case studies reveal the underlying belief in
rational individuals. This viewpoint overlooks the diversity
- f social configurations and actors. The emphasis on
individual responsibility (i.e. energy consumption) is far from neutral: it conceals the weight of social structures.
- Third, these processes direct attention to the link between
energy transition and environmental inequalities, when ‘common people’ are not able to transform their interest in renewable energy into action.
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Thank you for your attention! Contact: phamman@unistra.fr
