In this ground-breaking book, Jörg Radtke offers for the first time within research, a comprehensive insight into the range of organizational structures of community energy projects in Germany and their contribution to the Energiewende. Based on nationwide quantitative survey data and in-depth analyses of selected case studies of solar, wind and geothermal projects, Radtke documents the social structure and motivations of participating citizens. He examines new forms of material participation, community building and co-determination within the mostly volunteer-led community energy projects based on the civic engagement patterns of active “green citizens”. The author identifies a new form of individualistic participation and collective modes of action in line with new types of project-oriented participation between business, politics and civil society within sustainability transformation processes of the early 21st century.

The content

· Systematic overview of participation research

· Participation in the context of renewable energies

· Community energy research

· Empirical analysis of community energy projects

· Typology of participation in community energy projects

The target groups

· Researchers, lecturers and students of social sciences, sustainability and environmental sciences, energy research, geography, cultural studies, law and economics

· Practitioners in the field of renewable energies

The author

Dr. Jörg Radtke is a senior researcher at the Research Institute for Sustainability – Helmholtz Centre Potsdam.

The text was translated with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent manual revision was carried out primarily in terms of content.