Conceptualising energy prosumption

Exploring energy production, consumption and microgeneration in Scotland, UK

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7761692
AutoresKatherine Ellsworth-Krebs (0000-0003-3098-1498, University of St Andrews, autor correspondente), Louise Reid (0000-0003-0577-1210, University of St Andrews)
Ano2016
Volume48
Fascículo10
Páginas1988-2005
Data de publicação2016-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0308518x16649182
OpenAlexW2354070615
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas22
Referências citadas41

Energy prosumption has become a common phrase as more householders and communities are producing and consuming their own electricity and heat. Prosumption is a combination of two words: production and consumption, and emerged as a concept at a time when consumers were beginning to be more proactive and take over steps traditionally thought of as ‘production’. In many ways, energy prosumption is nothing new (e.g. wood combustion), yet development of our modern energy system has changed the relationships between energy producers and consumers (e.g. smart meters, renewable energy production). Thus, there is a growing body of research interested in the motivation and conditions for the uptake of microgeneration technologies and the implications to energy infrastructures and big energy producers. However, this ‘energy prosumption’ scholarship generally lacks a strong conceptual foundation and misses the opportunity to build on existing prosumption literature and related debates. This paper brings the wealth of literature on prosumption into the energy context and reflects on the insights offered by a prosumption lens. Our study explores a particular manifestation of prosumption – when a household is simultaneously a producer and consumer of their heat and/or electricity via microgeneration – and we present data from semi-structured interviews with 28 households living with microgeneration technologies in Scotland, UK. Thus, we provide a robust framework from which future research on household and community energy prosumption can build

Business · Economics · Energy consumption · Environmental economics · Microeconomics · Prosumer · Renewable energy · Social science · Sociology · Energy and Environment Impacts · Engineering · Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance