The good energy : community, ethics, and the economy in an Italian electricity cooperative

Abstract

Based on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork — conducted both online and in-person — with ènostra, a renewable energy cooperative headquartered in Milan, Italy, this doctoral research investigates the cooperative’s trajectory within the electricity market. It examines how ènostra’s members, workers, and clients perceived and enacted an ‘energy transition from below’ through the establishment and participation in a ‘community enterprise’. The thesis delves into how my interlocutors pursued ‘doing good’ through collective and personal endeavours, encompassing economic interactions between the cooperative and its members, aspirations for individual and societal well-being, the development of an ‘institutional’ framework for social and environmental sustainability, and the envisioning of a future energy system based on collective efforts. Drawing primarily from interviews, field observations, and documents, the research illustrates how participants strove to reconcile the pursuit of an alternative, cooperative approach to renewable energy with participation in a capitalist electricity sector. Ethical and moral considerations intersected with and were influenced by the market economy that governed the electricity infrastructure.

I argue that exploring the mobilisation of ethical and community ideals within the techno-economic context of the electricity infrastructure can transcend politico-economic analyses that pit energy cooperatives against corporate and state power. The thesis reveals the transition to renewables as a multifaceted process of disengagement from the current fossil-based energy system, which involves not only technical, economic, political, and social dimensions, but also moral, emotional, and symbolic ones. Overall, the research contributes to advancing anthropological scholarship on energy, organisations, alternative economies, and infrastructure by examining the intricate ethical dilemmas arising within the intersection of non-profit organisations and capitalism.