Community energy as care infrastructure: insights from two energy communities in England and Greece
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Liodaki, Danai
Apostolopoulou, Elia
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This article examines community energy projects as infrastructures of care, exploring how they address interconnected environmental and social challenges. While grassroots renewable energy projects are often framed in technical or economic terms, we argue that their significance also lies in the relational, ethical and political dimensions of energy provision. Drawing on feminist care ethics, and particularly Tronto's phases of care, we analyse how community energy initiatives cultivate attentiveness to environmental concerns, assume responsibility for collective energy needs, support vulnerable households, and foster democratic participation. Empirically, we draw on qualitative research on two community energy projects in England and Greece. Through interviews with founders, members and supporting organizations, we show that these initiatives operate as care infrastructures that redistribute not only energy but also knowledge, capabilities and forms of solidarity. In doing so, they challenge dominant market-oriented understandings of energy and foreground principles of sufficiency, interdependence and shared responsibility. We conclude that by embedding care into energy production and consumption, community energy projects reconfigure everyday energy practices, expand democratic control and contribute to more just and sustainable futures.
Date Issued
2026-06-01
Date Acceptance
2026-04-08
Citation
Energy Research and Social Science, 2026, 136
ISSN
2214-6296
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Energy Research and Social Science
Volume
136
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
104704
Date Publish Online
2026-04-17