Commons-Based Local Energy Systems for Local Resilience

* Book: Van Houten, Henk & Ron M.R. Bosch. *De Kracht van de Commons – Van lokale energie-ecosystemen naar veerkrachtige gemeenschappen. 2026.

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Description

Via ChatGPT, prompted by Michel Bauwens, inspired by the manuscript of the discussed book:

Commons-Based Local Energy Systems for Local Resilience is the English title proposed here for *De Kracht van de Commons – Van lokale energie-ecosystemen naar veerkrachtige gemeenschappen* (“The Power of the Commons – From Local Energy Ecosystems to Resilient Communities”), the second volume in a two-part exploration of local energy systems and community resilience by **Henk van Houten and Ron M.R. Bosch**.

The book builds on *De Nieuwe Logica van Energie – Van energievoorziening naar lokale energie-ecosystemen* (“The New Logic of Energy – From Energy Supply to Local Energy Ecosystems”), which addresses the systemic question of how energy generation, consumption, storage, mobility, buildings, energy management, digitalisation, economics and governance can be connected into a local energy ecosystem.

The second volume takes the next step: **how should the community that owns, governs, uses and maintains such an ecosystem be organised?**

This shifts the focus from the technical energy system to the social, institutional and economic relationships surrounding it. Once people collectively use, manage or own infrastructure, energy and local services, fundamental questions arise concerning ownership, decision-making, responsibility and risk, distribution of collectively created value, participation and representation, and the management of conflicting interests.

Characteristics

Central proposition

The book argues that the energy transition is not only a transformation of how energy is produced and consumed. It also raises questions about how **ownership, responsibility, decision-making and economic value** are organised.

A neighbourhood may have solar panels, batteries, heat pumps, electric vehicles, smart energy management and a local economic structure, but these technologies do not automatically produce a functioning or resilient community.

The book's central proposition is therefore that:

> **Technical quality alone does not determine whether a local community can function sustainably. Ownership, decision-making, accessibility, responsibility and effective influence also shape how the system works in practice.**

From this perspective, the energy transition becomes a genuine **system transition** only when local energy organisation is accompanied by deliberate consideration of ownership, governance, value creation, responsibility and human relationships.

Energy communities and the commons

The authors place this development within the emerging institutional position of **energy communities** in the Dutch energy system. Energy communities connect local energy activities with forms of local ownership, participation and social value. They therefore represent not only a technological development but also an organisational and governance transition.

The book brings together social, institutional, economic, relational, legal, technical and digital dimensions in an integrated framework for thinking about, designing and evaluating local commons-based systems.

Its development proceeds from the social foundations of **CommonsSociety** and the neighbourhood understood as a commons, through sociocracy and governance, to local value creation and security of livelihood. It also examines the more difficult aspects of collective organisation, including power, exclusion, free-riding, conflict, individual autonomy and digital participation.

Sociocracy and consent are considered as possible organisational building blocks. They are not presented as guarantees of equality or successful cooperation. Differences in knowledge, available time, influence, interests and power can persist even within sociocratic structures. Likewise, a commons does not automatically produce equality, social cohesion, solidarity or successful cooperation.

This distinction is important to the book's approach. Technical systems can to a considerable extent be calculated, measured and monitored; trust, participation, power, inclusion and human relationships cannot be predicted in the same way. The models and propositions presented are therefore treated as **hypotheses and design principles that require critical testing in practice**.

The book consequently asks not simply why commons may be attractive, but **under what conditions they function, where they may fail, for whom they work, and how their design can subsequently be adapted**.

No blueprint

• De Kracht van de Commons* explicitly does not present a blueprint for an ideal society or community. It is presented as a **design vision and integrated systems concept**, rather than as a scientific publication, standard, official guideline or established policy document.

Its social, legal, economic, technical and organisational assumptions are intended to be tested against current legislation and regulation, validated literature, relevant practical knowledge and the circumstances of particular projects when applied in education, policy, research or practice.

A fundamental question underlying the book is:

> **How can a community organise shared ownership, responsibility, decision-making and locally created value without losing sight of individual freedom, diversity and human differences?**

The proposed objective is not maximum local autonomy. A neighbourhood is neither an island nor an entity that can or should assume every social, legal, technical or governmental responsibility itself.

Instead, the book proposes **appropriate autonomy**: organise locally what can demonstrably be done better at the local level, while remaining connected to municipalities, distribution system operators, market actors, public institutions, and national and European frameworks where responsibilities belong at other scales.

Discussion

Sources

Commons, capabilities and resilience

The conceptual framework draws on several established bodies of thought.

Elinor Ostrom's work provides a foundation for thinking about commons and institutional governance.

Amartya Sen's capability approach is used to distinguish between the formal availability of resources or services and people's actual capabilities to make use of them.

Empirical research on energy communities, including work by **Esmee J. Lub**, is used to examine issues of access, participation, differences in knowledge and actual influence. **Systems thinking**, including the work of **Donella Meadows**, informs the analysis of feedback, adaptation and resilience.

The authors connect these perspectives and apply them to the CommonsSociety framework. The manuscript was further developed and critically examined through practical experience, additional sources, technical and social analysis, and feedback from a reading group.

The resulting framework is presented not as a finished model, but as an **integrated framework for thinking, designing and evaluating local communities**, in which technology, energy, ownership, economics, governance and human relationships are considered together.

Authorship and development

The book emerged from collaboration between **Henk van Houten and Ron M.R. Bosch** and builds on the systems perspective developed in *De Nieuwe Logica van Energie*.

Van Houten contributed the original vision of **CommonsSociety**, together with substantial conceptual material and foundational content. Bosch further developed, structured and connected this body of thought with technical, economic and governance-oriented systems logic. New chapters, analyses, practical examples and additional material were developed during this process and combined into a coherent book concept.

The book thus presents local energy communities not simply as technical infrastructures or alternative ownership structures, but as **socio-technical systems** in which energy, infrastructure, ownership, governance, economics, capabilities, participation and human relationships interact.

More information

Full Dutch citation

• Van Houten, Henk & Ron M.R. Bosch. *De Kracht van de Commons – Van lokale energie-ecosystemen naar veerkrachtige gemeenschappen*.

The book forms the second volume of a two-part work, following:

• Van Houten, Henk & Ron M.R. Bosch. *De Nieuwe Logica van Energie – Van energievoorziening naar lokale energie-ecosystemen.

See also: the concept of CommonsSociety.