A new report has just been released as part of the UK Energy Research Centre project Remaking Energy Participation, which is being led by the 3S research group. This report was put together by 3S faculty members Helen Pallett, Jason Chilvers and Tom Hargreaves, and reports on a systematic mapping of public participation in UK low carbon energy transitions 2010-2015.

Download the Mapping energy participation report now!

The reports main finding is that citizens are participating in low carbon transitions in huge diversity of ways. These included the expected and oft-discussed forms of participation such as consultations, deliberative engagement, opinion surveys and behaviour change projects, but also included forms of activism and protest, arts-based engagement, community energy groups and intentional communities.

This diversity of modes of engagement is also accompanied by a diversity of different energy issues and actions which were raised by citizens.

The report argues that this suggests that academics, government and the private sector needs to adopt different modes of engaging with and listening to citizens, which acknowledges the diversity of existing engagements, the sheer range of different framings of energy issues and energy action, and the power relations influencing how these play out and are taken up.