Many communities and regions in different countries have accepted these challenges and have created the objective of reaching energy self-sufficiency through the use of renewable energies. In the end, self-sufficiency should be reached on a global scale. The change of the energy system to a more decentralized structure based on RE is characterized by different elements like new technological opportunities, greater citizen involvement, regional energy supply, the chance for added value created in a region, increased employment, as well as by political decision-making processes that are increasingly taking place in local governments. Therefore for the implementation of renewable energy self-sufficiency (RESS) to be successful, numerous ecological, economic, technical, and social factors have to be taken into consideration, making an interdisciplinary analysis indispensable. Moreover the integration of local and practical knowledge is essential in many cases (transdisciplinary approaches). However, what is lacking the most is a coherent approach to the topics from various fields.

On these grounds the conference aims to attract scientists (MSc students, PhD students, post-docs, senior researchers) from a wide variety of disciplines who share an interest in studying the change of the energy system to a system based on renewable energies. The general ambition is to stimulate discussion within different disciplinary fields about the transformation of the energy system and go beyond disciplinary boundaries for the facilitation of a inter- and transdisciplinary approach to RESS.