Community Energy Literature Review

A straightforward view of the importance of narrative in relation to climate change is made by Rosenberg, 2023, who refers to the dangers posed by human-induced climate change, and states that “Communicating this issue beyond the scientific community is a complex and difficult endeavor. Climate change is unfolding on a time scale that is difficult for humans to grasp and comprehend.” She claims that “Storytelling has the power to invoke emotions, increase knowledge, and inspire action” and outlines a project that will “create a bridge that connects people to the world of climate change science and those who dedicate themselves to its pursuit.” In his additional chapters to ‘Orality and Literacy’ (Ong, 2013) John Hartley touches on general aspects of the power of narrative and its medium. He touches on the abstraction of writing and print from the immediacy of speech, the formation of the modern mind “in the crucible of language”, the determination of mind by medium, the soft power of...

A press release dated 3 August 2022 shows a map of South Wales and South West England with an account of how this region is to become the UK’s first Hydrogen Ecosystem (GW4, 2022). The article comes from the GW4 Alliance, described as a collaboration between the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. These universities are in partnership with Western Gateway, whose website describes the partnership as “the UK’s first pan-regional powerhouse to span two countries”, these being England and Wales (Western Gateway, 2022). An aspirational video stresses the resources and facilities of the area, the opportunities it offers, and its potential for economic growth and for research and development in areas such as nuclear fusion and a hydrogen economy.   A series of articles supports these ideas and gives details of related economic research and publications, outreach activities, the region’s potential to become a world-leading green energy cluster and   innovator in new tec...

‘Carbon Ruins’ is an exhibition of the carbon era which invites the visitor into an imagined future where the transitions to post-fossil society  have already happened. The future date is 2053, three years after global net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide were reached, and recognizable objects in the exhibition bridge the gap between daily life and the abstract impacts of climate change. These objects may include a 2014 cookbook which speculated on the possibility of cultivated meat, a piece of black coal from 2020, a sample of plastic grass from 2024, a diary of the 2025 milk riots in Brussels, the last toys made from plastic (an iconic material of the fossil fuel age), a recycled steel water bottle from 2034, and a 2038 picture of the last fast-food hamburger. The exhibits vary with the form taken by ‘Carbon Ruins’: since its beginning in 2019 these have included a mobile exhibition, audio presentation, educational material for schools, and part of the Human Nature exhibit at the...

  An imagined speech, the Zero-Carbon World Oration for 2050, was used by Wiseman (2017) as a vehicle “to describe one plausible narrative of the way in which a rapid energy transition might unfold, informed by a range of modelling and scenario studies”. The writer takes us through a series of supposed milestones between 2020 and 2050, including the growth of renewables, energy storage and smart grids; the attainment of carbon neutrality by leading cities; the phasing out of internal combustion engines and the use of renewable fuels and electrification for long distance transport; the demise of coal and oil; the expansion of carbon pricing; the use of emissions-free steel and concrete; and the mobilization of funds to address the impact of climate change and energy transition on the most vulnerable populations. Wiseman’s fictitious orator describes a world that in 2050 has escaped total climate disaster, and is on track to achieve a net zero carbon economy by 2060, but neverth...

Mary Robinson spoke recently in Bristol on the subject of Climate Justice. One of the points she made was that the motivation to take action on environmental issues is likely to come through narrative rather than from a logical appeal to facts.  Narrative in relation to sustainability has been examined from many angles. The narratives of individual households with commitments to sustainable living, and their relation to transition movements and to technological narratives are examined in the following paper. Transitions on the home front: A story of sustainable living beyond ecoefficiency Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 31, September 2017, Pages 240-248 Pernilla Hagberta, Karin Bradley (2017) Open Access The authors state that a “prevailing discourse in sustainable housing tends to focus on building performance, along with compelling stories of “green” lifestyles and attractive urban housing concepts, while avoiding storylines that suggest more profound c...