Material flow accounting for an Irish rural community engaged in energy efficiency and renewable energy generation

Sustainability transitions have been embraced in regions throughout the world in response to climate change fears, economic decline, public health concerns and environmental degradation. There is increasing evidence to support the idea that the best way of ensuring communities can become more resilient to the effects of climate change and environmental degradation is for them to become more sustainable up to and including an ability to become carbon neutral and energy sufficient. At the core of any sustainability transition is community leaders and stakeholders. These are the people that have first-hand knowledge of what their communities need and what they can offer in terms of local knowledge, services and supports. Urban and rural regions are responding to inadequate actions at national and international level by initiating their own action plans. Community based projects may have an important role to play in promoting the ideals of sustainability and sustainable communities. Community based projects have been shown to have a greater ability to engage and empower local actors and stakeholders than top-down initiatives which, in many instances, have failed. Ballynagran in Ireland serves as a rural case study. A material flow analysis of the community, alongside questionnaire data on energy consumption was used to calculate the potential of the community to generate their energy requirements from resources available within the community. Other community initiatives involve reducing energy consumption through energy upgrades and building retrofitting. The aim is to become a zero CO₂ community by 2025.