Participatory Energy Diagnosis for the Design of Sustainable Rural Energy Systems: Evidence from an Indigenous Community in Mexico

The study of energy needs in rural areas continues to be an active field of research. Although numerous gaps hinder the achievement of a sustainable energy transition in these areas, it is necessary to develop comprehensive strategies that integrate local participation with the implementation of efficient and appropriate energy technologies. This research analyzes local energy needs using a community participatory approach and considers four main stages, including a participatory diagnosis at the community level to identify energy needs, defining priority energy needs from the community’s viewpoint, estimating a baseline of the identified needs, their economic costs, and environmental impacts, constructing a scenario with a 20-year projection, and the benefits of implementing more efficient technologies. The results show that 98.9% of energy is destined for residential needs, 0.6% for community needs, and 0.5% for productive needs, and the economic expenditure follows the same hierarchy, while total emissions are estimated annually at just over 30,000 tCO2e and 3 tPM2.5. With the proposed scenario, at the end of year 20, a reduction in consumption of just over 200 TJ is estimated, together with present value savings of USD 490,000, and a decrease in emissions of approximately 27,000 tCO2e and 2.7 tPM2.5. This proposal is expected to contribute to encouraging research with broad community participation and to the formulation of strategies that enable a sustainable energy transition in rural contexts.