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From energy “needs” to sustainable energy: a case for personal carbon trading and locally-produced energy

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Authors:
Françoise Bartiaux, Université Catholique de Louvain
Nathalie Frogneux, Université Catholique de Louvain
Olivier Servais, Université Catholique de Louvain

Abstract

This paper begins with a deconstruction of the notion of “needs” and energy “needs”, with insights from anthropology, sociology and philosophy. The paper continues by recasting energy consumption and production into a socio-political stake with a reference to our common human condition and a list of several policy options to reduce energy consumption: the creation of a feeling of obligation, the green option by default, the necessity to address the desire for transgression, a call for social and cultural diversity of the socio-technical systems, the paradigm of climate justice, and an inverse scale of permissibility. The paper‟s main conclusions are that a local perspective is the best way to examine the links between energy consumption and its environmental consequences and that to join the relative necessity of “needs” and the paradox of the choice to be made for others while respecting the global ecological constraints, personal carbon trading could respect these two dimensions. A few prospective suggestions are made to make this tool more efficient in reducing social inequalities.

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