Prosumers and sustainable development: an international assessment in the field of renewable energy

Filho, Walter Leal, Trevisan, Laís Viera ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3673-6573, Salvia, Amanda Lange, Mazutti, Janaina ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1929-4155, Dibbern, Thais ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4826-4614, de Maya, Salvador Ruiz ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7487-8308, Bernal, Elvira Ferrer ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0386-3970, Eustachio, João Henrique Paulino Pires, Sharifi, Ayyoob ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8983-8613, Alarcón-del-Amo, María-del-Carmen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5195-3923 and Kushnir, Iryna (2024) Prosumers and sustainable development: an international assessment in the field of renewable energy. Sustainable Futures, 7. 100158. ISSN 2666-1888

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Abstract

The term "prosumers" coined by Toffler, relates to those customers who also engage in the co-creation of products, which they only partly consume, and whose balance is made available to a broader group. But even though the role of prosumers is increasingly relevant as a more comprehensive number of people are engaging in the production of products to be shared by others, there is a need for studies that aim at identifying how widespread they are, and the concrete contribution they are providing to some key area such as, for energy, energy generation and distribution. Based on the need to address this research gap, this paper reports on a study on prosumer behaviour in a sustainable development (SD) context, with a focus on the energy sector. The paper deploys a mixed-methods approach which entails a bibliometric analysis of prosumers from a sustainability perspective - to gain a better understanding of the topic -, a quantitative study of prosumers’ behaviour in the field of renewable energy involving respondents from 44 countries, and a set of case studies, supported by the literature, which illustrates current trends. The novelty of this paper resides in the fact that it explores the role of prosumers in an SD context across many countries in the critical area of energy generation and use, outlining the drivers of positive behaviour and identifying some further information needs.