The ACCESI project: Socio-constructivist Analysis of the Italian Sustainable Energy Communities

The poster aims to illustrate the project “Socio-Constructivist Analysis of the Italian Sustainable Energy Communities” (ACCESI). Sustainable Energy Communities (SECs) are “local communities in which politicians, planners, project developers, market actors and citizens actively co-operate to develop high degrees of intelligent energy supply, favouring renewable energy sources, together with a conscientious application of energy efficiency measures” (IEEA, 2006, p.4). SECs are based on three axes: local policy making, energy market and energy citizenship. Nevertheless, psychosocial features – crucial for the development of a proper energy citizenship – often remain under-examined. ACCESI aims to identify psychosocial factors and processes that foster or hinder the development of SECs in Italy. Therefore it aims to develop a definition of energy citizenship and to identify innovative practices for the Italian context that combine energy planning with detailed analyses of psychosocial sustainability. The four-years project – funded by the Italian Investment Fund for Basic Research – involves two research units. It is articulated along four research lines (societal, social, situational and individual) and refers to different theoretical frameworks (ideological-discursive and cultural models, social representations approach, framing processes and participatory processes, and environmental psychology of sustainability). Results from analyses of multiple sources of data suggest different ways of dealing with energy issues moving from national to regional and local level. The notion of energy citizenship seems to assume meaning only in situated contexts: the shift is from deficient views of the user to models of energy management that – taking into account specific territorial characteristics and community needs – actively include citizens.