The energy transition is not solely a technical transition from centralised fossil fuel production to decentralised renewable energies. It mostly is a social and political transition within the energy market and has much broader implications. Everywhere I travel in Europe, I see pro-active citizens working in the energy transition. Their arguments are the same in every country. “If we don’t do it nobody else will.” People feel that in a globalised world, power does not exclusively lie with their representative governments. They see that governmental is often far too influenced by big business, ignoring the will of the people. The energy transition will democratise energy, make it more transparent and more equitable when executed by citizens that organise themselves on a local level.
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Both crowdfunding and energy cooperatives give the power of money directly to citizens. Now citizens can take power and control in two ways: locally, they can start their own renewable energy production, own it and decide democratically on the revenues and they can control the flow of their money into the energy transition.
By Siward Zomer
Chairman of De Windvogel
Original article on Citizenergy website.
