The results of the ENBLOC project presented during ESA conference

The study “Energy commons during crisis: Understanding housing cooperative strategies through dramaturgical sociology’, carried out as part of the ENBLOC project was published in the International Journal of the Commons.

This article focuses on the strategies adopted by rural housing cooperatives during the 2022 energy crisis, which was caused by a sharp rise in coal prices and limited availability of this fuel. These organisations were found to be particularly affected by the crisis, due to their reliance on individual heating sources, most commonly coal-fired. In order to examine the strategies employed, the annual reports of rural housing cooperatives were analysed and classified using a set of 18 impression management strategies, inspired by Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical sociology. Analysis of the documents revealed that the energy crisis prompted four-fifths of the co-operatives to adopt defensive strategies, the most common of which were: attributing the causes of the crisis to external factors (66 per cent), organisational resourcefulness (18 per cent) and silence (12 per cent). The findings of the study portray rural housing cooperatives as solitary and routine actors, undertaking efforts that often exceed their capabilities, which points to the need for greater recognition of their role as energy communities that are key to ensuring local energy security.

The article is available as open access → here