It is clear that our mainstream energy systems are not all sustainable. Groups across Europe and beyond are testing new ways of producing and consuming energy, which take long-term sustainability and justice into account. One example of this is "energy communities".

An energy community is a way of using open democratic participation and governance to organise collective energy actions, which provide benefits to the community's members or the local community at large. These benefits can be social, environmental or economic, and participation should be open to a wide group of stakeholders, citizens, local governments, public entities and companies.

There is still plenty about energy communities left to be explored. How are energy communities and energy efficiency services established and managed? What kinds of communication and interactions work best to encourage participation in energy communities for different individuals and groups?

A group of researchers and on-the-ground practitioners – including ICLEI Europe – have come together to get to the bottom of these questions, all while testing and transfering knowledge from pilot projects across Europe. These pilots span pre-existing energy communities; energy communities that will be initiated by the project; and other energy communities that are not direct project partners, but nonetheless seek to benefit from relevant knowledge exchange. The pilots will test different types of engagement and interaction, such as engaging via intergenerational learning, and will explore cases that are geographically and socio-economically diverse.

This work is being conducted as part of the DECIDE (Developing Energy Communities through Informative anD collEctive actions) project. To benefit from the knowledge exchange and research DECIDE catalyses, visit www.decide4energy.eu.

For more information, click here or follow DECIDE on Twitter and LinkedIn.