Local Capacity for Energy Transition in Northern and Indigenous Communities: Analysis of Gwich’in Communities in Northwest Territories, Canada
Introducing local renewable energy solutions into the fossil fuel dominated energy mix of many northern and off-grid Indigenous communities has the potential to create new socio-economic opportunity and address historical energy injustices. However, energy systems are comprised not only of technolog...
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crarcticinstna:10.14430/arctic77183 2024-06-09T07:41:24+00:00 Local Capacity for Energy Transition in Northern and Indigenous Communities: Analysis of Gwich’in Communities in Northwest Territories, Canada McMaster, Rhys Noble, Bram Poelzer, Greg Menghwani, Vikas 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic77183 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/77183/56604 unknown The Arctic Institute of North America http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ARCTIC ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 journal-article 2023 crarcticinstna https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic77183 2024-05-14T12:53:42Z Introducing local renewable energy solutions into the fossil fuel dominated energy mix of many northern and off-grid Indigenous communities has the potential to create new socio-economic opportunity and address historical energy injustices. However, energy systems are comprised not only of technology and infrastructure but also the communities who generate, use, and benefit from energy. The design of local energy systems that are community appropriate thus requires an understanding of a community’s socio-technical capacity, coupled with an understanding of the social processes that stimulate and sustain transitions and the longer-term, desired outcomes from local energy. This paper explores the socio-technical capacity for renewable energy transitions in northern and Indigenous communities, based on a case study of four Gwich’in communities in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Results show that the foundational attributes of socio-technical capacity for energy transition in northern communities are interconnected, and strengths or challenges in one area often reflect strengths or challenges in another. Several capacity strengths already exist to support energy transition, including community energy values inclusive of community vision and the embedded and transferable skillsets of communities, coupled with next generation leaders. In turn, there are areas where significant capacity building is required, including supports for local energy champion(s) and enabling inter-local energy networks. Results also demonstrate that recent scholarly literature regarding local capacity for community energy does not tightly align with, or reflect the nuances of, energy transition needs in northern and Indigenous communities. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Gwich’in Northwest Territories Arctic Institute of North America Canada Northwest Territories ARCTIC |
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Introducing local renewable energy solutions into the fossil fuel dominated energy mix of many northern and off-grid Indigenous communities has the potential to create new socio-economic opportunity and address historical energy injustices. However, energy systems are comprised not only of technology and infrastructure but also the communities who generate, use, and benefit from energy. The design of local energy systems that are community appropriate thus requires an understanding of a community’s socio-technical capacity, coupled with an understanding of the social processes that stimulate and sustain transitions and the longer-term, desired outcomes from local energy. This paper explores the socio-technical capacity for renewable energy transitions in northern and Indigenous communities, based on a case study of four Gwich’in communities in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Results show that the foundational attributes of socio-technical capacity for energy transition in northern communities are interconnected, and strengths or challenges in one area often reflect strengths or challenges in another. Several capacity strengths already exist to support energy transition, including community energy values inclusive of community vision and the embedded and transferable skillsets of communities, coupled with next generation leaders. In turn, there are areas where significant capacity building is required, including supports for local energy champion(s) and enabling inter-local energy networks. Results also demonstrate that recent scholarly literature regarding local capacity for community energy does not tightly align with, or reflect the nuances of, energy transition needs in northern and Indigenous communities. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McMaster, Rhys Noble, Bram Poelzer, Greg Menghwani, Vikas |
spellingShingle |
McMaster, Rhys Noble, Bram Poelzer, Greg Menghwani, Vikas Local Capacity for Energy Transition in Northern and Indigenous Communities: Analysis of Gwich’in Communities in Northwest Territories, Canada |
author_facet |
McMaster, Rhys Noble, Bram Poelzer, Greg Menghwani, Vikas |
author_sort |
McMaster, Rhys |
title |
Local Capacity for Energy Transition in Northern and Indigenous Communities: Analysis of Gwich’in Communities in Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_short |
Local Capacity for Energy Transition in Northern and Indigenous Communities: Analysis of Gwich’in Communities in Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_full |
Local Capacity for Energy Transition in Northern and Indigenous Communities: Analysis of Gwich’in Communities in Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Local Capacity for Energy Transition in Northern and Indigenous Communities: Analysis of Gwich’in Communities in Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Local Capacity for Energy Transition in Northern and Indigenous Communities: Analysis of Gwich’in Communities in Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_sort |
local capacity for energy transition in northern and indigenous communities: analysis of gwich’in communities in northwest territories, canada |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic77183 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/77183/56604 |
geographic |
Canada Northwest Territories |
geographic_facet |
Canada Northwest Territories |
genre |
Arctic Gwich’in Northwest Territories |
genre_facet |
Arctic Gwich’in Northwest Territories |
op_source |
ARCTIC ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic77183 |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
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1801369914805583872 |