1st Edition
Routledge Handbook of Energy Communities and Smart Cities
This Handbook examines the regulatory, social, financial, and technological issues pertaining to energy communities in smart cities. Evidencing the emergence of new imperatives at the intersection of sustainability, resilience, innovation, and legal issues, energy communities embody the thrust of the user-centred digital transformation our societies are subjected to today. By bridging the energy communities debate with smart cities research, this Handbook positions itself at the heart of the conversation on energy sustainability, climate action, and “just transition”.
Drawing on contributions from across the globe, this book offers both a birds-eye and a detailed inter- and multidisciplinary insight into the emergence of energy communities and their evolution in the smart city context. Technological and regulatory aspects of this transition are explored from a variety of conceptual and empirical perspectives. Case studies evidencing developments in the Global South and the Global North embellish the conversation. Questions of climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, emissions’ reduction, and corresponding policy frameworks are discussed. Dedicated to all those interested in climate action, energy transition, sustainable development, and smart cities, this Handbook will be of interest to policymakers, lawyers, energy and urban experts, researchers, and students.
About the authors
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Exploring the Smart Cities – Energy Communities Nexus: Issues and Challenges
Maciej M. Sokołowski and Anna Visvizi
Part I The Smart Cities – Energy Communities Nexus
Chapter 2 Energy Communities in Smart Urban Ecosystems: Institutional, Organisational, Psychological, Technological Issues
Anita De Franco, Stefano Moroni, and Roberto De Lotto
Chapter 3 Exploring Tensions in Urban Energy Communities
Eeva-Lotta Apajalahti, Salvatore Ruggiero, Jani Lukkarinen, and Senja Laakso
Chapter 4 Energy Companies, Energy Communities, and Smart Cities
Daniela Aguilar Abaunza
Chapter 5 Sustainable Urban Industrial Areas through Energy Communities
Maria Rosaria Sessa, Ornella Malandrino, Benedetta Esposito, Daniela Sica, and Mario Testa
Chapter 6 Energy Management in Energy Communities
Graeme Stuart and Leticia Ozawa-Meida
Chapter 7 Smart Energy Solutions: Two-Way Energy Information Exchange between Utility Companies amd Prosumers
Mohamad Kashef, Orlando Troisi, and Anna Visvizi
Part II The Legal Perspective to Energy Communities
Chapter 8 Smart Energy Communities and Financial Support under EU and State Law and Policies
Theodoros G. Iliopoulos
Chapter 9 Energy Communities and the State Aid Rules
Magdalena Porzeżyńska
Chapter 10 Coop-Production of Heat and Power: CHP in Cogenatives and Cogenmunities (Co-CHPs)
Maciej M. Sokołowski and Marc A. Rosen
Chapter 11 Energy Efficiency as a Tool for Energy Poverty Reduction: A Legal Perspective
Maíra Tito, Tiago de Melo Cartaxo, Caroline de Lima Ferraz, Nevin Alija, and Maria Manuel Meruje
Chapter 12 The Essential Elements of the Regulatory Frameworks Governing Renewable Energy Communities: A Comparative Analysis
Hao Zhang
Chapter 13 Electricity Storage in Energy Communities: Regulatory and Policy-Making Considerations
Anton Ming-Zhi Gao and Yash Chawla
Part III Case Studies
Chapter 14 Personal Data Protection Issues in the Context of Smart Cities Solutions
Fumio Shimpo and Piotr Mikusek
Chapter 15 Enablers and Constraints to Energy Communities: Lessons for Energy Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa
Andrew Emmanuel Okem and Debora Ley
Chapter 16 Planning a Low-Carbon City in a High-Carbon State: The Case of Edmonton, Alberta
Sonak Patel and John R. Parkins
Chapter 17 Smart Energy Networks, Decarbonization and Public Utility Infrastructure Resilience: The Case of Japan
Shinichi Kusanagi
Chapter 18 Exploring the Role of Energy Communities in Facilitating a Just Energy Transition and Smart City Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Ekeminiabasi Eyita-Okon and Mmabatho Mongae
Chapter 19 Towards Localised Green Technologies and the Emergence of Energy Communities: The Case of South Africa
Sibusiso Nxumalo and Danford Chibvongodze
Chapter 20 Fighting Energy Poverty through Local Energy Communities: Insights from Portugal
Inês F. G. Reis, Rui Pimenta, Ivo Gonçalves, Marta A. R. Lopes, and Carlos Henggeler Antunes
Index
Biography
Maciej M. Sokołowski holds a PhD in law (summa cum laude), with habilitation (Doctor of Science, DSc). He is a Specially Appointed Associate Professor at the Faculty of Policy Management of Keio University, Japan, associated with the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw, Poland. He is an expert in the field of energy law and energy sector, the author of three books on energy regulation as well as about eighty papers and reports on public law and climate-energy policy.
Anna Visvizi, PhD (dr hab.), is an economist and political scientist, editor, researcher, and political consultant with extensive experience in academia, think-tank and government sectors in Europe and the United States, including the OECD. She is an Associate Professor at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland, Visiting Professor at Effat University, Saudi Arabia, and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Hellenic Growth and Prosperity (IHGP), at the American College of Greece. Her expertise covers issues pertinent to the intersection of politics, economics and ICT, especially AI and blockchain, in such domains as smart cities/smart villages, geopolitics, and business management.
