- Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Alister Forman
Cardiff University, Sustainable Places Research Institute, Graduate Student
- Cardiff University, Cardiff School of Planning and Geography, Graduate Studentadd
- Geography of Energy, Renewable Energy, Energy and Environment, Energy, Community Energy, Community renewable energy projects, and 19 moreEnergy justice, Fuel Poverty, Energy Storage, Social Justice, Community Engagement & Participation, Participatory Research, Participatory Action Research, Community participation and engagement, Land reform, Climate Change, Wales, Human Geography, Environmental Security, Action Research, Environmental Justice, Critical Pedagogy, Community-Based Participatory Research, Community Development, and Energy Policyedit
- My research explores the co-constitution of energy and equity within our energy systems; with a particular concern for the role that community energy models play in contributing towards the (re)negotiation of social justice within energy systems broadly conceived. Large-scale, centralised models of energy systems, ubiquitous across the industrialised world, provide energy at an unprecedented scale in real time. More recently, however, research around the emergent theme of ... moreMy research explores the co-constitution of energy and equity within our energy systems; with a particular concern for the role that community energy models play in contributing towards the (re)negotiation of social justice within energy systems broadly conceived. Large-scale, centralised models of energy systems, ubiquitous across the industrialised world, provide energy at an unprecedented scale in real time. More recently, however, research around the emergent theme of energy justice suggests that despite the outward appearance of an energy system that delivers safe, clean and affordable energy for all, access to energy is in fact highly contingent and fragmented whilst its associated benefits are unevenly distributed across space and time and between social groups. With the increasing presence of communities playing an active part in the negotiation of their own energy futures, my research examines the role of community energy as a vehicle for achieving social justice objectives – particularly in the context of fuel poverty in Wales – and for mapping and examining local perceptions of community benefit as a tool for exploring the diversity of ways in which community energy contributes towards the mediation of local and social objectives beyond the environmental. The study works directly with Welsh Government as an active partner and co-funder; with an explicit focus on the Ynni’r Fro community energy programme and participatory engagement with a range of communities from across Wales.edit
Research Interests:
Energy justice has emerged as a useful lens for understanding and guiding energy decision-making. However, whilst calls for greater energy justice have grown, fleeting attention has been paid to the role and agency of the very people at... more
Energy justice has emerged as a useful lens for understanding and guiding energy decision-making. However, whilst calls for greater energy justice have grown, fleeting attention has been paid to the role and agency of the very people at the heart of this agenda. Clearly, given the increasing prevalence of local energy initiatives, such projects warrant more sustained focus both to explore how energy justice is constructed between settings and to prompt greater consideration of its associated outcomes. This paper seeks to address this gap by using energy justice to assess local ownership of small scale energy generation through a study of the community energy sector in Wales. In so doing, it aids greater understanding of the energy equity dimension, understood in terms of accessibility and affordability, of the energy trilemma. From a conceptual standpoint, the research examines how energy justice is negotiated and contested at community-scale through a focus on issues of distributive and procedural justice. From a policy standpoint, the research shows that community energy is often involved in a wide range of local objectives and directs attention to how best to support such initiatives to further stimulate local action and deliver more widespread equity gains.