When discussing ways to reduce energy demand and emissions, much of the time people are really talking about cities. But rural areas face unique barriers when it comes to decarbonising, and there is often more emphasis on issues around energy supply than energy demand. The Fair Rural Energy Futures flexible fund project worked with the EDRC Citizens’ Panel to explore what low energy rural places could look like in the future, and how decarbonising can help to tackle some of the systemic challenges that face rural communities today.
This booklet was designed to feed back early findings to panel members, and provides an overview of the key challenges and opportunities of rural energy demand reduction. The panel was a 2-year process with 40 members of the public from in and around Greater Manchester, broadly reflecting the UK population. Fair Rural Energy Futures involved a new workshop with 12 rural panel members, as well as analysis of rural themes in materials from wider meetings of the panel.
This booklet provides an exploration of citizen perspectives on what fair energy demand reduction looks like in rural places, based on the novel evidence provided by the Citizens’ Panel. It points towards citizen priorities for ‘rural-proofing’ energy demand reduction policies, which will be elaborated in further work from the project.
