Energy Communities: Pervasive Technologies and Collective Futures

Energy communities are emergent sociotechnical constellations, where local actors collectively organize green energy initiatives. Embedded in the vision of energy communities are expectations that pervasive energy technologies will foster citizen participation toward sustainable, democratic futures. Those technologies are predominantly designed as generalizable “one-size-fits-all” solutions to automate the coordination, production, consumption, and distribution of local green energy. However, these solutions rarely consider the diverse cultural and social practices of local communities in their designs. In this article, we draw on emerging research and five situated design cases to illustrate the many nuances involved in envisioning and developing technology for energy communities. Reflections from these cases suggest a need for design approaches that better account for the diverse social lifeworlds into which these technologies are meant to foster local engagement toward sustainable futures.