Comparing cases: Insights into

energy practices and

community from Cardiff City

Dr Karen Parkhill

Cardiff University, UK

Prof. Karen Henwood Dr Catherine Butler

Dr Fiona Shirani Prof. Nick Pidgeon

Paper presented at: CLUES Conference: Energy in the Locality.8th May, London http://www.ucl.ac.uk/clues/CLUES_Conference

Overview

• Project background

• Methodology

• Futurespace – context

• The role of Futurespace as a

community group

• Conclusions

Energy Biographies Research

Objectives 1. Develop understanding of energy use by investigating and

comparing people's different „energy biographies‟ across a range of social settings

2. Examine how existing demand reduction interventions interact with people's personal biographies and histories.

3. Develop improved understanding of how different community types can support reductions in energy consumption

…We will also be exploring the usefulness of innovative (narrative, longitudinal and visual) research methods for helping people reflect on the ways they use energy

Methods

• These involve interviews and informal meetings with case site representatives and a wider range of stakeholders to provide detailed contextual information.

Phase 1: Scoping Stakeholder Interviews

July 2011-December 2011

• 30 initial narrative interviews in each case site area(n=90)

Phase 2a: Narrative Interviews

December 2011-April 2012

• Follow up interviews 5 AND 10 months with a selected sample from each case site. Participants are being asked to engage in a range of other multi modal methods (e.g. photographs)

Phase 2b: Extended Biographies &

Multimodal Method

May 2012-February 2013

Also I am volunteering with Futurespace Ely and Caerau & have been since it began

Case Site Locations (but focus on Futurespace)

Royal Free

Hospital,

London

Peterston and Ely

Caerau, Cardiff

Tir Y Gafel Eco-

village,

Pembrokeshire

Ely & Caerau

• Population~ 24,000

• Social stigma

• In top 10% Welsh multiple-

deprivation index

▫ Education & skills

▫ Income

▫ Housing, health &

employment

▫ (Fuel) poverty is endemic

Like I've got loads of friends and when we lived in [street]we were cold,

we were cold for years but we got used to it but it was freezing in the

morning with one calor gas, it's not nice really. I have other friends

who are on electric meter and I think 'Oh is it going to be ...?' they

need new pencil cases for school but will the electric go? and being

in that situation and everyone having to sit in clumps to watch telly and

then you don't want to make a cup of tea and all that type of thing. So I

think that was my first concern because I don't suppose you see that. I

can't see the future of global warming and what will happen to the

environment but I can see someone who is like freezing in their

house and I know what that feels like. I know what it feels like to be

cold and not have money for heating and have access to heating. So

I suppose that's why that was my priority cos I know what that feels like

whereas I am being told this is going to happen but I can't actually see

it. - Kelly

• Active for ~ year

• Supported by Ely &

Caerau Communities 1st

• „ACE‟ development trust:

Action in Caerau and Ely

• Volunteers

▫ Timebanking

(http://www.elycaerau.c

om/Welcome.html)

• No resources

The vision“Futurespace Ely and Caerau is a group

set up by a core group of enthusiastic

volunteers who are passionate about

bringing communities together and

promoting sustainable living; we are

supported by the local Communities

First team who are helping us to carry

our vision forward. Futurespace aims to

generate a sustainable future in Wales by

working with communities in Ely and

Caerau. There are two key goals - to

reduce the use of natural resources and

to address the issue of fuel poverty in

the local area.”

Futurespace has a key element

of a „community‟ in that is has

identified “common needs and

goals, a sense of the common

good, shared lives, culture and

views of the world, and

collective action” (Silk, 1999: 6).

Constructs of community (not an exhaustive

list!)• Communities can form or be:

▫ Geographical

▫ Interests

▫ Localised social systems binding social groups and institutions

▫ …of practice (shared learning)

▫ …of social action

▫ Virtual “co-presence and absence” (Clark, 2007)

• They have or aim to:

▫ Common goals… - internal cohesiveness and identity

▫ Empower

▫ Build resilience

▫ Increase capacity

• But perhaps they also need:

▫ External identity: A Brand (trust worthy, dependable, real etc...)

A brand community is a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relationships among admirers of a brand. It is specialized because at its center is a branded good or service. Like other communities, it is marked by a shared consciousness, rituals and traditions, and a sense of moral responsibility. Each of these qualities is, however, situated within a commercial and mass-mediated ethos, and has its own particular expression. (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001: 412). But what does this mean for a community group like Futurespace?

Community Identity & Futurespace• Futurespace has much of what is on the last slide including

particularly those listed under the aims (e.g. common goals,

empowerment, building capacity). I‟m going to contend that

to be a successful community group, or more accurately to

have continued success, you need to be able to speak to all of

the things on the previous slide, particularly the need to

develop a brand, which comes with it‟s own pitfalls as we‟ll see.

I‟m going to use the successes and less successful ventures of

Futurespace to think about this a bit more. But before I do,

let me be clear, I am not in anyway judging this group , I

hope through this exploration I will make apparent some

of the challenges they face and what mechanisms are

needed to assist their work.

Interventions of Futurespace

• Home energy surveys

• Training volunteers

• Grant funding

• Community Solar PV scheme

▫ Homeowners free energy

▫ Community 25 yrs reliable

investment

Social enterprises▫ Aim 1000 ->500 EoI

▫ 100 leases signed

• But then…

Alongside dealing with their

disappointment the group have taken

on a lobbying role (perhaps unknown to

the wider community of Ely and Caerau)

– they submitted a response to the

DECC consultation on FiT revisions, have

contacted and/or met MPs and Welsh

Government Ministers. Plus they have

continued to develop the home energy

surveys, training and thinking about

their role for providing support to Ely

and Caerau.

The group, due to a lack of

resources and the quickly

changing policy landscape,

struggled to keep the

community informed of the fast

developments. They had to rely

on help to disseminate from

Communities First Ely and

Caerau, which despite it giving

fantastic support, has its own

resource pressures. They tried

to use the local community

paper: Ely Grapevine – but not

everyone receives it (or indeed

reads it). Therefore some of

those who were interested in

the solar PV project did not

know why there was a delay.

This has possibly led to some

negative perceptions of

Futurespace.

The importance of external identity

work• Before the FiT issues, Futurespace was perhaps seen as a „business‟

rather than voluntary organisation: “Alright Futurespace would

obviously get the tariffs but then if you‟re in business you want to

make money don‟t you”

• Before the FiT issues, trying to build up trust can be very difficult:

“Mind a lot of people were a bit taken aback with it because there‟s

an old saying: you don‟t get anything for nothing and because it

was free…it was hard to convince them that…it was ok; people get a

bit suspicious about things for nothing and that was quite sort of

eye opening”

When the PV scheme stalled, sympathy for the

Futurespace group may be felt, but clear the project

was not necessarily „owned‟ by community members –

it is championed by “they” or “them” not “us” or “we”,

until this participant talks about future uncertainty:

“But I know they were devastated you know because

they did such a lot of work and it‟s a bit heartbreaking

really for them. I felt really sorry for them but

they’ve had lots of meetings and we’re just holding

on now, waiting to see what‟s going to happen”

Concluding Thoughts…• Community groups, communities and policy

stakeholders work on different time-scales

▫ Community groups are increasingly acting as

“intermediaries” for national/international policy

goals – they need support to be able to engage in

such a fast changing policy landscape effectively.

• Community groups need internal cohesiveness

e.g. “common goals” and “shared lives”

• But also need a robust “brand” or external

identity

• Both internal and external identities are ongoing

“projects”

Acknowledgements: Futurespace

Group, ESRC.

Dr Karen Parhill

parkhillk@cardiff.ac.uk

Twitter: DrKAParkhill

www.energybiographies.org