Local communities’ energy literacy as a way to rural resilience—an insight from inner peripheries

Abstract

Energy transition is surely not only about the technological change, but it also has to necessarily reflect socio-cultural and environmental transformations on the local level. Hence, local communities’ energy literacy belongs to the crucial elements in designing successful energy transition and strengthening rural resilience. Energy literacy is a concept widely related to the multifaceted phenomenon of energy consumption, both in its individual and collective dimensions. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to analyse the level of energy literacy in rural conditions, considering its three key dimensions (awareness, attitude, and behaviour). Our reflective considerations about energy literacy build on the current knowledge that stress its importance for the reinforcement of rural resilience. The case study, Zławieś Wielka, in the north-central Poland, was selected where a social survey (N = 300) on the relation between energy literacy and rural resilience was conducted. By means of employing the cross-tabulations method for data analyses, our results signal that certain indications of the ecological awareness among the rural residents are being formed. Our findings clearly suggest that, on the one hand, the needs for more environmentally reasonable management with energy, including electricity and heat, come to the fore. On the other hand, various types of investments in improving the energy efficiency of residential buildings and utilising energy generation from renewable energy sources are observed. It seems that the surveyed community has a clear potential to become the vector for sustainable and just energy transition of the countryside. The essential conditions that urgently need to be implemented to ensure the viability of rural energy transition are the educational reinforcement within the community and more generous long-term institutional support from the central government, targeted on endogenous development and enhancing the local social capital.