Community Engagement in the Energy Transition
Energy and the Climate Crisis
The Climate Crisis
Humanity has been through many crises over the last decades, the climate crisis being one of the most pressing. Climate changes due to specific natural processes, together with extensive human activities, especially after the industrialization era have led to disruptions of the Earth’s natural cycles, resulting in extreme phenomena of greater intensity and frequency eg. The European Heatwave of 2003 claimed many lives in Western and Southern Europe with temperatures reaching 47 Degrees Celsius in southern Portugal. Southern Europe, particularly the Balkans and Greece were also hard hit by a heatwave in July of 2007. It almost seems that with every new year, the World Meteorological Organization is predicting a new record for the hottest summer in Europe. The climate crisis has been intensified by the increasing greenhouse gas emissions from human activities such as burning coal, gas, and oil for electricity and transportation, as well as deforestation and extensive agriculture and livestock farming.
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Energy Poverty
While it is absolutely vital to reduce our global energy consumption, at present, 95% of our global Energy usage and emissions come from just 5% of the global population. Meanwhile, a very large percentage of people living don’t have access to a just and reliable energy supply. According to the EU Energy Poverty Observatory, more than 54 million households in Europe (i.e. 11% of the total EU population) are experiencing energy poverty and its consequences. The cost of accessing energy from Centralized Energy Systems plays a large part in this injustice.
Why energy?
The emissions coming from the energy sector represent almost 75% of global emissions. Therefore, a huge transformation is necessary to the energy system if we want to keep the global temperature rise below 1,5ºC. Currently, most countries around the world are dependent on Centralized Energy Systems. Most of which are owned and managed by central governments or the wealthy, dependent upon burning coal, and the extraction of gas and oil to generate electricity for the grid, and are responsible for rising energy prices. An alternative to this Energy System that is more sustainable for our planet and community populations are Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) Systems that allow for the relocation of energy production closer to the points of consumption enabling a more efficient production and distribution.